Charles Emmanuel II

▪ duke of Savoy

born June 20, 1634, Turin, Savoy

died June 12, 1675, Turin

      duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675, during a period of restoration and consolidation in the whole of Piedmont.

      A younger son of Victor Amadeus I of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel acceded at the age of four on the death of his brother, Francis Hyacinth, who had reigned as duke for a year. Charles Emmanuel's minority ended in 1648, but he did not truly rule until the death of his regent mother in 1653. In 1655 and again in 1663–64, shocking Protestant Europe, he waged a campaign of persecution against the Waldenses, conducting massacres against the mountaineers. He tried to improve the army and made war upon Genoa in 1671–73, but without result, peace being concluded through the mediation of King Louis XIV of France. He also sought internal improvements, enlarging and embellishing the capital of Turin.

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