Kingdom of Sardinia Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids

Kingdom of Sardinia

1324–1861

Civil Flag and Ensign of the Savoyard Kingdom (1816-1848)

Coat of arms (1815)

Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1815: the Mainland states (Piedmont, Savoy, Nice) and Sardinia.

Capital

Cagliari
(1324–1720, 1798–1814)
Turin
(1720–1798, 1814–1861)

Government

Absolute monarchy
(1324–1849)
Parliamentary constitutional monarchy
(1849–1861)

King

• 1324–1327

James II of Aragon (first)

• 1849–1861

Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy (last)

Prime Minister

• 1848

Cesare Balbo (first)

• 1860–1861

Camillo Benso (last)

Legislature

Parliament

• Upper house

Subalpine Senate

• Lower house

Chamber of Deputies

History

• Papal investiture

1297

• Actual establishment

1324

• Kingdom to Habsburg

1714

• Kingdom to Savoy

1720

• Perfect Fusion

1848

• Loss of Savoy and Nice

1860

• Becomes the new Kingdom of Italy

1861

Area

1859

73,810 km² (28,500 sq mi)

Preceded by

Succeeded by

	Judicate of Arborea
	Republic of Pisa
	Sassari
	Duchy of Savoy
	Republic of Genoa
	United Provinces of Central Italy

Kingdom of Italy
Second French Empire

Today part of

Italy
France
Monaco

The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. The Kingdom was a member of the Council of Aragon and initially consisted of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, sovereignty over both of which was claimed by the Papacy. Beginning in 1324, James II of Aragon and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia and established authority. In 1420, after the Sardinian-Catalan War, 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 Spanish Empire.

In 1720, the island was given up by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to the Duke of Savoy Victor Amadeus II. The Savoyards united it with their historical possessions on the Italian mainland, and the Kingdom came to be progressively identified with the Mainland states.

When the Mainland domains of the House of Savoy were occupied and eventually annexed by Napoleonic France, the king of Sardinia temporarily resided on the island for the first time in Sardinia's history under Savoyard rule. The Congress of Vienna (1814–15), which restructured Europe after Napoleon's defeat, returned to Savoy its Mainland possessions.

Philip V of Spain

In 1847–48, through the "Perfect Fusion", the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system with their capital in Turin, and granted a constitution, the Statuto Albertino. By the time of the Crimean War in 1853, the Savoyards had built the kingdom into a strong power. On 17 March 1861 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.

The Savoy-led Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was thus the legal predecessor of the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn is the predecessor of the present-day Italian Republic.

Notable monarchs

Philip V of Spain ruled over the vast Spanish Empire including Sardinia.
Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia first of the House of Savoy to rule the territory.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy later the first king of a united Italy.

Images for kids

The flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia at the funeral ceremony of Charles V
The Kingdom of Sardinia in a 16th-century map
The Savoyards' Italian possessions in the early 18th century.
19th-century coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sardinia under the Savoy dynasty
A map of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1856, after the fusion of all its provinces into a single jurisdiction
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour
King Victor Emmanuel II meets Garibaldi in Teano (26 October 1860)
Imperial Eagle of Roman Holy Emperor Charles V with the four Moors of the Kingdom of Sardinia (16th century)
Flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1568
The political situation in Sardinia after 1324 when the Aragonese conquered the Pisan territories of Sardinia, which included the defunct Judicate of Cagliari and Gallura.
The Kingdom of Sardinia from 1368 to 1388 and 1392 to 1409, after the wars with Arborea, consisted of only the cities of Cagliari and Alghero.
The Kingdom of Sardinia from 1410 to 1420, after the defeat of the Arborean Judicate in the Battle of Sanluri (1409).
The Kingdom of Sardinia from 1448 to 1720; the Maddalena archipelago was conquered in 1767–69.
1859: Kingdom of Sardinia Kingdom Lombardy–Venetia Duchies Parma–Modena-Tuscany Papal States Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
1860: Kingdom of Sardinia Kingdom Lombardy–Venetia Papal States Kingdom of the Two Sicilies After the annexation of Lombardy, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Emilian Duchies and Pope's Romagna.
1861: Kingdom of Sardinia Kingdom Lombardy–Venetia Papal States After the Expedition of the Thousand.
maximum expansion of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1860

Kingdom of Sardinia facts for kids

Notable monarchs

Images for kids

See also