King of Spain from 1870 to 1873
Amadeo I
(
Italian
:
Amedeo Ferdinando Maria di Savoia
; 30 May 1845 – 18 January 1890), also known as
Amadeus
, was an Italian prince who reigned as
King of Spain
from 1870 to 1873. The only king of Spain to come from the
House of Savoy
, he was the second son of
Victor Emmanuel II
of Italy and was known for most of his life as the
Duke of Aosta
, the usual title for a second son in the Savoyard dynasty.
He was elected by the
Cortes Generales
as Spain's monarch in 1870, following the deposition of
Isabel II
, and was sworn in the following year. Amadeo's reign was fraught with growing republicanism,
Carlist
rebellions in the north, and the
Cuban independence movement
. After three tumultuous years on the throne, he abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the
First Spanish Republic
was declared as a result.
He founded the Aosta branch of Italy's royal
House of Savoy
, which is junior in
agnatic
descent to the branch descended from King
Umberto I
that reigned in Italy until 1946, but senior to the branch of the
dukes of Genoa
.
Early life and first marriage
[
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]
The Duke of Aosta with his first wife,
Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo
.
Amadeo painted by
Vicente Palmaroli
Prince Amedeo of Savoy was born in
Turin
, then part of the
Kingdom of Sardinia
. He was the third child and second son of King
Victor Emmanuel II
, who would later become the first
King of a unified Italy
, and of Archduchess
Adelaide of Austria
. He was granted the hereditary title of
Duke of Aosta
from birth.
Entering the
Royal Sardinian Army
as
captain
in 1859, he fought through the
Third Italian War of Independence
in 1866 with the rank of major-general. He led his brigade into action at the
Battle of Custoza
and was wounded at Monte Croce. In 1868, after his marriage, he was created
vice admiral
of the
Italian Royal Navy
, but the position ended when he ascended the Spanish throne.
[1]
In 1867, his father yielded to the entreaties of the parliamentary deputy Francesco Cassins, and on 30 May of that year, Amedeo was married to
Donna
Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo
. The King initially opposed the match on the grounds that her family was of insufficient rank and that he hoped for his son to marry a German princess.
[2]
Despite her princely title, Donna Maria Vittoria was not of royal birth and belonged rather to the
Piedmontese
nobility. She was, however, the sole heir to her father's vast fortune,
[2]
which subsequent Dukes of Aosta inherited, thereby obtaining wealth independent of their dynastic
appanage
and allowances from Italy's kings.
[2]
The wedding day of Prince Amedeo and Donna Maria Vittoria was marred by the death of a station master, who was crushed under the wheels of the honeymoon train.
[3]
In March 1870, Maria Vittoria appealed to the King to remonstrate with her husband for marital infidelities, which caused her hurt and embarrassment. However, the King wrote in reply that he understood her feelings, but he considered that she had no right to dictate her husband's behaviour, and her jealousy was unbecoming.
[2]
King of Spain
[
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]
After the
Glorious Revolution
deposed
Isabella II
, the new
Cortes
decided to reinstate the monarchy under a new
dynasty
. The Duke of Aosta's father was a descendant of King
Philip II of Spain
through his daughter Infanta
Catalina Micaela of Spain
and her son
Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano
, while his mother was a descendant of King
Charles III of Spain
through his daughter Infanta
Maria Luisa of Spain
. The Savoyard prince was elected king as Amadeo I on 16 November 1870 and swore to uphold the
Constitution
in Madrid on 2 January 1871. The election of the new king coincided with the assassination of General
Juan Prim
, his chief supporter, and Amadeo took the oath in the presence of Prim's corpse.
Amadeo as King of Spain on a coin from 1871.
Amadeo then had to deal with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican conspiracies,
Carlist
uprisings,
separatism
in
Cuba
, interparty disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts. Amadeo could count on the support of only the
Progressive Party
, whose leaders traded off in the government by its parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives were divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which worsened the country's instability, and in 1872 a violent outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak. There was a Carlist
uprising
in the
Basque
and
Catalan
regions, and republican uprisings later occurred in cities across the country. The artillery corps of the army went on strike, and the government instructed Amadeo to discipline them.
Though warned of a plot against his life on 18 August 1872, he refused to take precautions. While returning from
Buen Retiro Park
to Madrid in company with the queen, he was repeatedly shot at in Via Avenal. The royal carriage was struck by several
revolver
and
rifle
bullets. The horses were wounded, but its occupants escaped unhurt. A period of calm followed that event.
[1]
With the possibility of reigning without popular support, Amadeo issued an order against the artillery corps and then immediately
abdicated
from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873. At ten o'clock the same night,
Spain was proclaimed a republic
, and Amadeo made an appearance before the
Cortes
and proclaimed the
Spanish people
to be ungovernable.
Later life
[
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]
Lake Amadeus
in Australia's
Northern Territory
was named in honour of Amadeo.
Completely disgusted, the ex-monarch left Spain and returned to Italy, where he resumed the title of
Duke of Aosta
. The
First Spanish Republic
lasted less than two years, and in November 1874
Alfonso XII
, the son of Isabella II, was proclaimed king, with
Antonio Canovas del Castillo
, Spanish intermittent prime minister from 1873 until his assassination in 1897, briefly serving as
regent
.
Amadeo's first wife died in 1876. In 1888 he married his French niece, Princess
Maria Letizia Bonaparte, Duchess of Aosta
(20 November 1866 – 25 October 1926), daughter of his sister
Maria Clotilde
and of
Prince Napoleon Bonaparte
, a nephew of
Napoleon
I. They had one child,
Umberto
(1889?1918), who died of the
Spanish flu
during the
First World War
.
Amadeo remained in Turin, Italy until his death on 18 January 1890. His friend
Puccini
composed the famous elegy for
string quartet
Crisantemi
in his memory.
[4]
Legacy
[
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]
The
municipality
of
Amadeo
, in the
province
of
Cavite
, in the
Philippines
, which was a
colony of Spain
, was named after Amadeo I when it was established on 15 July 1872, during his reign.
A large
salt lake
,
Lake Amadeus
, and the subsequently-named
Amadeus Basin
, where it lies in central
Australia
, is also named after Amadeo I by the explorer
Ernest Giles
, who was the first European to find the lake, in 1872.
Honours and arms
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National
[
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]
Foreign
[
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]
Arms
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]
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Coat of arms as Duke of Aosta (1845?1890)
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Coat of arms as King of Spain (1871?1873)
|
Issue
[
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]
By Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo:
- Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta
(13 January 1869 – 4 July 1931)
Marshal of Italy
married to
Princess Helene of Orleans
and had issue, including
Prince Aimone
who was briefly
King Tomislav II of Croatia
.
- Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin
(24 November 1870 – 10 October 1946) died unmarried.
- Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi
(29 January 1873 – 18 March 1933)
Vice Admiral
in the
Italian Royal Navy
died unmarried.
By Maria Letizia Bonaparte:
- Umberto, Count of Salemi
(22 June 1889 – 19 October 1918), died of the Spanish flu during World War I.
Ancestry
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Ancestors of Amadeo I of Spain
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References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
Steed, H. Wickham
(1911). "
Amedeo Ferdinando Maria di Savoia
". In
Chisholm, Hugh
(ed.).
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 804.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Pollock, Sabrina (August 2006). "Spain's Forgotten Queen".
European Royal History Journal
.
9.4
(LII): 25?26.
- ^
Roger L. Williams,
Gaslight and Shadow: The World of Napoleon III, 1851?1870
(NY: Macmillan, 1957), 156?57
- ^
The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
, p. 260
- ^
a
b
c
Italia : Ministero dell'interno (1889).
Calendario generale del Regno d'Italia
. Unione tipografico-editrice. pp.
50
,
53
,
65
.
- ^
"Savoia Amedeo Ferdinando Duca D'Aosta"
(in Italian),
Il sito ufficiale della Presidenza della Repubblica
. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
- ^
"Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III".
Guia Oficial de Espana
. 1887. p. 148
. Retrieved
21 March
2019
.
- ^
"A Szent Istvan Rend tagjai"
Archived
22 December 2010 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Liste des Membres de l'Ordre de Leopold"
,
Almanach Royal Officiel
(in French), 1864, p. 54 – via Archives de Bruxelles
- ^
Jørgen Pedersen (2009).
Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559?2009
(in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 466.
ISBN
978-87-7674-434-2
.
- ^
刑部芳則 (2017).
明治時代の?章外交儀?
(PDF)
(in Japanese). 明治聖?記念??紀要. p. 143.
- ^
Sovereign Ordonnance of 27 April 1875
- ^
"Koniglich Preussische Ordensliste"
,
Preussische Ordens-Liste
(in German),
1
, Berlin:
6
,
936
, 1886
- ^
Sergey Semenovich Levin (2003). "Lists of Knights and Ladies".
Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called (1699?1917). Order of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine (1714?1917)
. Moscow.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Sveriges Statskalender
(in Swedish), 1881, p. 377
, retrieved
6 January
2018
– via runeberg.org
- ^
Norges Statskalender
(in Norwegian), 1890, pp. 593?594
, retrieved
6 January
2018
– via runeberg.org
External links
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*member of a cadet branch of the House of Savoy
**
Prince of Savoy-Genoa
***
Prince of Savoy-Aosta
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