Charles Albert of Sardinia

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(b Glasgow, 10 April 1864; d Riga, 3 March 1932). German composer and pianist. He attended the New Music School in London and gained the support of Liszt, becoming one of the great pianists of his day, renowned for his Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt and Bach. He wrote many charming character-pieces for piano as well as a Sonata in F# minor (1893) and two concertos; but he had greater success as a composer of operas, both tragic (Tiefland, 1903, a verismo work of some power) and comic (Die Abreise, 1898; Flauto solo, 1905). Musically he belonged much more to German and Italian than to British culture.

Charles Albert (1798-1849) was king of Sardinia (Piedmont) from 1831 to 1849. He played an important part in liberalizing the institutions of the Piedmont and in starting it on its path as the leader of Italian unification.

Born on Oct. 12, 1798, Charles Albert was the son of Prince Charles of Savoy-Carignano and Princess Albertine of Saxe-Courland, and the cousin of the Piedmontese king Charles Emmanuel IV. In October 1798 the French seized Piedmont, and the entire court took refuge in Sardinia, where Charles Albert spent the first 16 years of his life. In 1802 Charles Emmanuel abdicated in favor of his brother Victor Emmanuel I. On Napoleon's defeat in 1814, the family returned to Turin, the capital of Piedmont, where Charles Albert was given rigorous training to prepare him for the throne.

On Oct. 1, 1817, Charles Albert married the archduchess Maria Theresa of Tuscany. In early 1821 he refused a request by the liberals to participate in a revolt against the reactionary government. On March 10, 1821, however, Turin was taken by the revolutionaries. Their aims were to establish constitutional government in Piedmont and to drive Austrian rule from Italy.

Victor Emmanuel abdicated at once in favor of his brother Charles Felix and named Charles Albert regent. Charles Albert then granted a constitution, but it was revoked when he was forced into exile by Austrian troops, who quickly put down the revolutionary movement. He was allowed to return to Turin, however, after promising to uphold the principles of absolute monarchy.

On the death of Charles Felix in 1831, Charles Albert became king of Piedmont. He promptly manifested considerable administrative ability in reforming the financial system and the army. In 1846, when the apparently liberal Pope Pius IX assumed office, Charles Albert became convinced that a government of broader freedom was needed and issued a decree to that effect. On Feb. 8, 1848, he finally granted the eagerly awaited constitution.

When Milan revolted in March 1848 against its Austrian rulers, Charles Albert also declared war on Austria. But Austrian power was too great, and by 1849 Piedmont was soundly defeated. Forced to accept bitter terms from the victors, Charles Albert believed he could be of no further help to his country and abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel II. Charles Albert died in a monastery in Oporto, Portugal, on July 28, 1849. The day of Italian liberation was not yet at hand, but it had been brought nearer by his work.

Further Reading

There is almost nothing specific in English on Charles Albert. The most thorough general treatment is in Bolton King, A History of Italian Unity (2 vols., 1899; rev. ed. 1924). The most complete account of the Risorgimento in English is George Martin, The Red Shirt and the Cross of Savoy: The Story of Italy's Risorgimento, 1748-1871 (1969).

Charles Albert
King of Piedmont
Reign	April 27, 1831 – March 23, 1849
Full name	Carlo Alberto Amedeo
Born	October 2, 1798(1798-10-02)
Birthplace	Turin, Italy
Died	July 28, 1849 (aged 50)
Place of death	Porto, Portugal
Buried	Basilica of Superga, Turin
Predecessor	Charles Felix
Successor	Victor Emmanuel II
Consort	Maria Theresa of Austria-Tuscany
Offspring	Victor Emmanuel II Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa
Royal House	House of Savoy
Father	Charles Emmanuel of Savoy
Mother	Maria Christina of Saxony

Charles Albert (Italian: Carlo Alberto Amedeo di Savoia) (2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence (1848–49). He abdicated after his forces were defeated by the Austrian army at the Battle of Novara (1849), and died in exile soon thereafter.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Family and children 3 See also 4 External links

Biography

He was born in Turin in 1798, to Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, 6th Prince of Carignano and Albertina Maria Cristina of Saxony. His father was a fifth-generation descendant of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano, founder of the Savoy-Carignano line of the House of Savoy. Because none of the sons of Victor Amadeus III themselves had sons, Charles Albert was throughout his life known to be their likely successor on the throne of Sardinia.

He was educated in the intellectually liberal and Francophile atmosphere of Geneva, then in Paris during the First French Empire. Napoleon I of France named him lieutenant of the dragoons in 1814. After the fall of Napoleon, Charles Albert returned to Turin, were he was entrusted to two praeceptors who were to delete in him the dangerous libertarian ideas learned in France. However, he continued to display some sympathies with liberals.

In 1821, as regent for the kingdom in the absence of the new king, Charles Felix (then in Modena), he conceded a constitution that was disavowed by the king, who sent him to join the French army in Spain to suppress the liberal revolution there and restore Ferdinand VII. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Trocadero in 1823, which annihilated hopes of a constitutional monarchy for Spain and also gained him the favour of Austria.

Coat of Arms of the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy after 1815.

Charles Albert succeeded Charles Felix to the throne of Sardinia in 1831. Although an Italian patriot allegedly opposed to the Austrian hegemony in Northern Italy, he put down the Mazzini conspiracy. He introduced a series of reforms that abolished domestic customs barriers within the kingdom, promulgated a constitutional law code (Statuto Albertino) inspired to those of France and Belgium, and supported the arts and sciences.

During the Revolutions of 1848 he agreed to a constitutional regime that remained in place for the century that the Kingdom of Italy lasted. The same year he declared war on Austria, with the small army supported by volunteers from the whole of Italy. However, after his initial victories lost him the support of the Pope and the other Italian monarchs, he was defeated at Battle of Custoza (July 24, 1848), being forced to sign an armistice at Vigevano on August 9. When, pushed by the increasing influence of the Republicans in Piedmont, he attempted to resume the war the next year, the Piedmontese were again crushed by Radetzky's troops at Novara. Rather than redrawing the Statute, he abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel fleeing in exile to Portugal.

He died at Porto the same year. His remains were transferred to the Basilica of Superga.

Friedrich Engels said of Charles Albert:

Among the indigenous princes, the number one enemy of Italian freedom was and is Charles Albert. The Italians should bear in mind and repeat every hour the old saying: "God watch over my friends, so that I can watch over my enemies." From Ferdinand of the House of Bourbon, there is nothing to fear; he has for a long time been discredited. Charles Albert on the other hand calls himself pompously the "liberator of Italy" while on the very people he is supposed to he liberating he imposes as a condition the yoke of his rule (Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 73, August 12, 1848).

Family and children

In 1817, Charles Albert married his second cousin once removed, Maria Theresa of Tuscany, the youngest daughter of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Princess Luisa Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies. The couple had the following children:

1. Vittorio Emanuele II (1820–78)
2. Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa (1822–55), 1st Duke of Genoa
3. Maria Cristina (fl 1826–27)

See also

• Statuto Albertino
• First Italian War of Independence
• Risorgimento

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charles Albert of Sardinia

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Charles Albert.

• Royal House of Sardinia
• Grand-Ducal House of Tuscany
• Carlo Alberto
• Genealogy of recent members of the House of Savoy
• Genealogy.euweb.cz

Charles Albert of Sardinia House of Savoy Born: 2 October 1798 Died: 28 July 1849
Italian nobility
Preceded by Charles Felix	King of Sardinia 1831-1849	Succeeded by Victor Emmanuel II

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