Duchy of Savoy

The country echoed with hollow laughs.

But the even greater and deeper irony of being urged to unity by a Catholic monarch, in the light of a track record that included, I don't know, Bloody Mary, the Council of Blood in the Netherlands, Louis XIV, or just this year, in 1686, Victor Amadeus II, the Duke of Savoy, he had yet again sent his soldiers into the Waldensian valleys and slaughtered 2,000 Protestants and forced the rest to convert or flee their homes.

So what was a decent, honest, good-living dissenter meant to do faced with all of this? On the sidelines, watching all of this with eager and close attention, was William of Orange and his court, which were slowly filling up with various potential rebels.

Gilbert Burnett had been there for a while, and he had no doubt whatsoever that James was using illegal, unconstitutional methods.

He banished his eldest son Louis to his province of Dauphiné, which soon became a meeting place for the disloyal and discontented.

The Dauphin married the Duke of Savoy's daughter and looked round for other supporters of his cause.

Chief among these was his father's vassal and former foe, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

When, in 1456, the king sent an army to subdue Dauphiné, Louis took refuge at the duke's court.

Meanwhile war had broken out on the north-eastern border of France, and Philip II.

had prevailed upon his English wife, Mary Tudor, in spite of an express understanding to the contrary, to engage English troops on his behalf.

The Spanish and English forces were under the command of the dispossessed Duke of Savoy, who claimed his duchy from France.

The blunders of the Marshal Montmorency gave them a complete victory at St. Quentin, and the town itself, though bravely defended by Coligny, fell into their hands.

The Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, Naples, and Sardinia.

Sicily to the Duke of Savoy.

Later an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily.

The Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, that is Sicily and Naples, were made an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria.

The only European possession outside the peninsula remaining to Spain was the Balearic Islands, and even of these England held Minorca.

On the mainland also England kept tight control of Gibraltar, which she had won during the recent war.

But there was little difference beyond the name.

The object was the same.

In August 1425, he discovered that Filippo Maria had formed a plot to poison him.

He flew to Venice, spoke against the Visconti, and entered upon negotiations with Amedeo, Duke of Savoy.

The Doge of Venice was at this time one of the most distinguished of the line, Francesco Foscari.

His predecessor, Tommaso Mocenigo, who had died on April 4, 1423 at the age of 80, had warned the republic against him as a restless and unquiet spirit.

Carmagnola was made commander-in-chief.

The first operations of Carmagnola were directed against Brescia, which fell into his hands in March 1425.

In July, the Duke of Savoy joined the league on the condition that the city of Milan, if conquered, was to pass to him.

But the task of the allies was by no means an easy one.

Unfortunately, they could not be induced to exert themselves vigorously, even for their own preservation.

They were deeply interested in keeping the French out of Italy, yet they could with difficulty be prevailed upon to lend the smallest assistance to the Duke of Savoy.

They seemed to think of the business of England and Holland to defend the passes of the Alps, and to prevent the armies of Louis from overflowing Lombardy.

To the Emperor, indeed, the war against France was a secondary object.

She had been shorn of almost all her outlying possessions.

The Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, Naples, and Sardinia; Sicily to the Duke of Savoy.

Later an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily.

The Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, that is, Sicily and Naples, were made an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria.

The only European possession outside the peninsula remaining to Spain was the Balearic Islands, and even of these England held Minorca.

On the mainland also England kept tight control of Gibraltar, which she had won during the recent war.

In Italy, Austria had succeeded to the position formerly held by Spain, the preeminence amongst the secular princes.

The States of the Church occupied all the central part of the peninsula from the borders of the Duchy of Naples as far as the mouth of the Po.

The Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, Naples, and Sardinia.

Sicily to the Duke of Savoy.

Later an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily.

The Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, that is Sicily and Naples, were made an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria.

The only European possession outside the peninsula remaining to Spain was the Balearic Islands, and even of these England held Minorca.

On the mainland also, England kept tight control of Gibraltar, which she had won during the recent war.

With the new reign and new regent came a new policy.

The Duke of Orléans, knowing the exhausted state of the country, was determined on a policy of peace.