Thomas François de Savoie (Prince de Carignan)
Thomas was born on December 21st, 1596 in
Torino, Torino, Italy.
1
- Birth Notes
- Tommaso Francesco di SAVOIA-CARIGNANO
Principe di Carignano, Prince de Carignan
(Tommaso Francesco de SAVOIE-CARIGNAN)
(Thomas Francis di SAVOIA-CARIGNANO)
(Thomas François di SAVOIA-CARIGNANO)
Thomas Francis of Savoy
(Italian Tommaso Francesco di Savoia, Principe di Carignano),
(French Thomas François de Savoie, Prince de Carignan)
December 21, 1596 - January 22, 1656) was an Italian military commander, the founder of the Savoy-Carignano branch of the House of Savoy which reigned as kings of Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the dynasty's deposition in 1946.
Born in Turin, Thomas was the youngest of the five legitimate sons of the sovereign Duke Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy by his consort Catherine Micaela of Spain, a daughter of King Philip II of Spain and the French princess Elizabeth of Valois. His mother died the following year. While still a young man, Thomas bore arms in the service of the king of Spain in Italy.[1]
Although in previous reigns, younger sons had been granted rich appanages in Switzerland (Genevois, Vaud), Italy (Aosta), or France (Nemours, Bresse), the Savoy dukes found that this inhibited their own aggrandizement while encouraging intra-dynastic strife and regional secession. Not only did Thomas have older brothers, he was but one of the twenty-one acknowledged children of Charles Emmanuel. While only nine of these were legitimate, the others, being the widowed duke's offspring by noble mistresses, appear to have been generously endowed or dowered during their father's lifetime.[2]
The seigneury of Carignan had belonged to the Savoys since 1418, and the fact that it was part of Piedmont, only twenty km. south of Turin, meant that it could be a "princedom" for Thomas in name only, being endowed neither with independence nor revenues of substance.[3] Instead of receiving a significant patrimony, Thomas was wed in 1625 to Marie de Bourbon, sister and co-heiress of Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons, who would be killed in 1641 while fomenting rebellion against Cardinal Richelieu.
He died before January 22nd, 1656 in
Turin, , , Italy.
- Death Notes
- Thomas and Marie had seven children who survived infancy (Italian names in parentheses):
Carignano line
1. Emmanuel Philibert Amadeus (Emanuele Filiberto Amedeo) (1628-1709), 2nd prince de Carignan, lived in Italy, becoming governor of Ivrea in 1644, and of Asti in 1663.[2] In 1684 he married in Racconigi, at the age of fifty-six, Princess Maria Angela Caterina d'Este (1656-1722), an almost twenty-nine year-old granddaughter of Cesare I d'Este, Duke of Modena.[2] Because he was deaf, the marriage shocked his mother, infuriated his sister-in-law Olympia Mancini, injured the financial prospects of his French nephews and nieces, and so offended Louis XIV that Francis II, Duke of Modena felt obliged to banish from his realm the bride's kinsman, who had acted as the couple's intermediary.[1][14] They had four children including:
1. Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignan (Vittorio Amedeo) (1690-1741), who had three children including:
1. Louis Victor, Prince of Carignan (Ludovico Vittorio) (1721-1778), who had nine children including:
1. Marie Therese de Savoie Carignan, Princesse de Lamballe (1749-1792)
2. Victor Amadeus (Vittorio Amedeo) (1743-1780) had one son:
1. Charles Emmanuel (Carlo Emanuele) (1770-1800) married Maria Christina Albertina of Saxony and Courland (morganatic daughter of the duke of Kurland who himself was a younger son of August III of Poland and Maria Josepha of Austria) and they had two children including:
1. Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia
3. Prince Eugenio of Savoy, Count of Villafranca
Soissons Line
2. Eugene Maurice (1633-1673), Count of Soissons, married Olympia Mancini and had 2 sons
1. Louis Thomas d.1702, Count of Soissons
2. Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), Prince of Savoy, called The Famous General
3. Louise-Christine (1627 - 1689), married in 1654 to Ferdinand Maximilian of Baden-Baden (1625-1669), and was mother of
1. Louis, Margrave of Baden-Baden (1655 - 1707) , also a famous general .
4. Joseph-Emmanuel (1631 - 1656), count of Soissons
Oral tradition and some Acadian/Cajun genealogists have attributed François Savoie (1621-1678), the patriarch of the Cajun Savoie family of Louisiana and Canada, as an illegitimate son of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignan; however, this has been a rather disputed claim.
Thomas François de Savoie (Prince de Carignan) & Marie de Bourbon (Countess of Soissons) 
Marie de Bourbon (Countess of Soissons)