Victor Amadeus was born on May 14, 1666. He was the son of Charles Emmanuel II, whom he succeeded as Duke of Savoy in 1675 upon the latter's death. Victor Amadeus's mother ruled as regent until 1683, when he declared the regency ended and personally assumed the reins of government.
Louis XIV wished to draw Savoy into the French orbit for two reasons. Savoy would be a threat to France if it was occupied by any enemy of France's, and Louis wished to occupy Savoy himself as a first step toward conquering all of Italy. In 1685 Louis forced Victor Amadeus into war. That year, following Louis's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, thousands of French Protestants fled into the Waldensian Valley, an alpine border area between France and Savoy. Louis XIV instructed Victor Amadeus to invade the Savoyard portion of the Waldensian Valley and to root out the Protestants. Victor Amadeus refused until Louis threatened to invade Savoy.
The attack took place in 1686. A stiff Waldensian defense eventually broke down before the forces of Savoy and France, and the military operation developed into a slaughter of Protestants. More than 12, 000 Protestant survivors were imprisoned in various fortresses in Savoy. However, the Waldensian affair had sickened Victor Amadeus. He resolved to defy Louis XIV and to free his duchy of French domination.
Victor Amadeus freed the Waldensian prisoners and financed their journey to Switzerland. In 1690 he opened negotiations for membership in the League of Augsburg, a group composed of the enemies of France. To discourage Savoy from joining the league, Louis XIV dispatched an army that occupied strategic fortresses in Savoy. Undaunted, Victor Amadeus joined the league and declared war on France.
The war lasted six years, but Louis XIV could not conquer the duchy. To entice Victor Amadeus away from the League of Augsburg, Louis XIV offered him generous peace terms. In 1696 both countries signed the Peace of Turin. France returned the captured fortress-cities of Pinerolo and Villafranca and the state of Nice to Savoy. Victor Amadeus then assumed command of a French army to help drive his former allies out of Savoy. The war-weary members of the league signed the Treaty of Ryswick in 1696 and ended hostilities with France.
Peace reigned in Europe until 1701, when the War of the Spanish Succession broke out. Savoy entered the war at first as an ally of France and Spain. But in 1703 Victor Amadeus refused to renew his alliance with Louis XIV. In 1706 a combined Savoyard-Austrian army defeated the attacking French at Turin. Through this victory, Victor Amadeus ended the French domination of Savoy.
In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession. As remuneration for his efforts in the war, Victor Amadeus received the kingdom of Sicily and was crowned in September. In 1720 Victor Amadeus ceded his claims to Sicily to Emperor Charles VI in exchange for the island of Sardinia. That year Victor Amadeus was crowned king of Sardinia.
Victor Amadeus brought equitable justice to both Savoy and Sardinia.
In 1730 Victor Amadeus abdicated in favor of his son, Charles Emmanuel III. Victor Amadeus died on October 31, 1732.
In 1723 he promulgated the first legal code in Savoy since the Middle Ages. He also brought economic prosperity to Savoy by expanding and investing in the tobacco and wool industries. He standardized weights, measures, and monetary units. The King established a state-supported insane asylum, a secondary school system, and the University of Turin.
Victor Amadeus married a French princess Anne Marie d'Orléans.
Anne Marie would remain a devoted wife. She quietly accepted his extramarital affairs; the longest one being with the famed beauty Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes by whom he had two children. Jeanne Baptiste was his mistress for eleven years and eventually fled Savoy due to Victor Amadeus' obsession with her. Victor Amadeus subsequently had his daughter with Jeanne Baptiste, Maria Vittoria, marry the Prince of Carignano from which the present Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples is a direct descendant. His favourite child was Victor Amadeus born in 1699 and given the title Prince of Piedmont as heir apparent. The Prince of Piedmont later died in 1715 from smallpox Anne Marie died in 1728 after a series of heart attacks.
His relationship with his younger son and eventual successor Charles Emmanuel was a cold one and the two were never close. Victor Amadeus organised the first two marriages of Charles Emmanuel the first one being to Anne Christine of Sulzbach, daughter of the Count Palatine of Sulzbach which produced a son which died in infancy. The second marriage was to Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg a first cousin of Anne Christine and mother of six children including the future Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia.
His mistress was Anna Canalis di Cumiana. The couple were married in a private ceremony on 12 August 1730 in the Royal Chapel in Turin having obtained permission from Pope Clement XII. Still attractive in her forties, Victor Amadeus had long been in love with her and as a wedding gift, created her the Marchioness of Spigno. The couple made their marriage public on 3 September 1730 much to the dismay of the court. A month later, Victor Amadeus announced his wish to abdicate the throne and did so in a ceremony at the Castle of Rivoli on the day of his marriage. His son succeeded him as Charles Emmanuel III.
He was the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675 and under regency of his mother Christine of France until 1648.
She was born a Princess of Savoy and became the Duchess of Savoy by marriage.
She was the first Queen consort of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession.
She was a French noblewoman.
She was a queen consort of Spain by marriage to Philip V of Spain.
She was a legitimated daughter of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia, first king of the House of Savoy. Married to the head of a cadet branch of the House of Savoy, she is an ancestor of the kings of Sardinia and of the Savoy kings of Italy.
She was the wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy. She was the eldest daughter of Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and of Anne Marie d'Orléans.
He was the illegitimate son of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia and Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes.
He was the eldest son of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and his French wife Anne Marie d'Orléans.
He was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.
