Sardinia: Information

Sardinia (1323 - 1861)

The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe which existed from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. It was the predecessor state of today's Italy.

When it was acquired by the Duke of Savoy in 1720, it was a small state with weak institutions. However, the Savoyards united it with their possessions on the Italian mainland and, by the time of the Crimean War in 1853, had built the resulting kingdom into a strong power. The country was sometimes called Savoy-Sardinia in this period and often called Piedmont-Sardinia or just Piedmont by modern French historians. Its final capital was Turin, the capital of Savoy since the Middle Ages.

The kingdom initially consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, sovereignty over both of which was claimed by the Papacy, which granted them as a fief, the regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae ("kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica"), to King James II of Aragon in 1297. Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia and established de facto their de jure authority. In 1420 the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire. In 1720 it was ceded by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. The kingdom of Sardinia came to be progressively identified with the entire domain ruled by the House of Savoy, which included, besides Savoy and Aosta, dynastic possessions since the 11th century, the Principality of Piedmont (a possession built up in the 13th century), and the County of Nice (a possession since 1388). While in theory the traditional capital of the island of Sardinia and seat of its viceroys was Cagliari, the Piedmontese city of Turin was the de facto capital of Savoy.

When the mainland domains of the House of Savoy were occupied and eventually annexed by Napoleonic France, the king of Sardinia made his permanent residence on the island for the first time in its history. The Congress of Vienna (1814–15), which restructured Europe after Napoleon's defeat, returned to Savoy its mainland possessions and augmented them with Liguria, taken from the Republic of Genoa. In 1847–48, in a "perfect fusion", the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system, with the capital in Turin, and granted a constitution, the Statuto Albertino. There followed the annexation of Lombardy (1859), the central Italian states and the Two Sicilies (1860), Venetia (1866), and the Papal States (1870). On 17 March 1861, to more accurately reflect its new geographic extent, the Kingdom of Sardinia changed its name to the Kingdom of Italy, and its capital was eventually moved first to Florence and then to Rome.

Sardinia: List of Rulers.
Reign / RuleFromToCoins Issued
Giacomo II (King James II), King of Aragon 1323 2 November 1327
Alfonso IV (King Alfonso IV), King of Aragon 2 November 1327 24 January 1336
Pietro IV (King Peter IV), King of Aragon 24 January 1336 6 January 1387
Giovanni I (King John I), King of Aragon 6 January 1387 19 May 1396
King Martin I, King of Aragon 19 May 1396 31 May 1410
Ferdinando I (King Ferdinand I), King of Aragon 3 September 1412 2 April 1416
King Alfonso V, King of Aragon 2 April 1416 27 June 1458
Giovanni II (King John II), King of Aragon 27 June 1458 20 January 1479
Ferdinando II (King Ferdinand II), King of Aragon 20 January 1479 23 January 1516
Queen Joanna and King Charles I of Spain, Holy Roman Emperor 23 January 1516 12 April 1555
Carlo I (King Charles I), King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor 12 April 1555 16 January 1556
Filippo II (King Philip II), King of Spain 16 January 1556 13 September 1598
Filippo III (King Phillip III), King of Spain 13 September 1598 31 March 1621
Filippo IV (King Philip IV), King of Spain 31 March 1621 17 September 1665
Carlo II (King Charles II), King of Spain 17 September 1665 1 November 1700
Filippo V (King Philip V), King of Spain 1 November 1700 7 March 1714
Carlo III (King Charles III), Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VI 7 March 1714 17 February 1720
Vittorio Amedeo II (King Victor Amadeus II) 17 February 1720 3 September 1730
Carlo Emanuele III (King Charles Emmanuel III) 3 September 1730 20 February 1773
Vittorio Amadeo III (King Victor Amadeus III) 20 February 1773 16 October 1796
Carlo Emanuele IV (King Charles Emmanuel IV) 16 October 1796 4 June 1802
Vittorio Emanuele I (King Victor Emmanuel I) 4 June 1802 12 March 1821
Carlo Felice (King Charles Felix) 12 March 1821 27 April 1831 2
Carlo Alberto I (King Charles Albert) 27 April 1831 23 March 1849
Vittorio Emanuele II (King Victor Emmanuel II) 23 March 1849 17 March 1861
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Sardinia: Details
Official NameKingdom of Sardinia and Corsica
Original NameRegnum Sardiniae et Corsicae
From1323
To1861
FlagFlag of Sardinia
WikiSee Wikipedia page
Sardinia: Currencies Used
CurrencyFromTo
Sardinian Lira 1816 1862