October 16, 1847: Birth of Maria Pia of Savoy, Queen of Portugal

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Archduke Rainer of Austria, Carlo Emmanuel of Savoy, Elisabeth of Savoy, Jerome Bonaparte, King Luís I of Portugal, King of Italy, Manuel II of Portugal, Maria Pia of Savoy, Princess Napoléon, Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia

Maria Pia (October 16, 1847 – July 5, 1911) was an Italian Princess and Portuguese Queen consort as spouse of King Luís I of Portugal. She was a member of the House of Savoy. On the day of her baptism, Pope Pius IX, her godfather, gave her a Golden Rose. Maria Pia was married to Luís on the October 6, 1862 in Lisbon. She was the grand mistress of the Order of Saint Isabel.

Maria Pia of Savoy was the daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia and the first King of Italy, by his wife Archduchess Adelaide of Austria, daughter of Archduke Rainer of Austria and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Savoy. Princess Elisabeth of Savoy was the daughter of Carlo Emmanuel, Prince of Carignano (1770–1800), and Princess Maria Cristina of Saxony (1770–1851). Princess Elisabeth of Savoy had an elder brother, Charlo Alberto, future King of Sardinia. Carlo Alberto of Sardinia was the father of Maria Pia of Savoy’s father, Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of Italy.

Maria Pia’s sister, Maria Clotilde, was the “Princesse Napoléon” as wife of Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, usually called Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte or Jérôme Bonaparte, who was the second son of Jerome, King of Westphalia, youngest brother of French Emperor Napoleon I, and his second wife Catharina of Württemberg.

Maria Pia’s brothers were King Umberto I of Italy and King Amadeo of Spain.

Maria Pia married King Luís I of Portugal on October 6, 1862 at the age of 14 in the São Domingos Church in Lisbon, therefore she instantly became Queen consort of Portugal. was a member of the ruling House of Braganza, and King of Portugal from 1861 to 1889. King Luís I of Portugal was the second son of Queen Maria II and Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Ferdinand was a King Consort of Portugal. Luís acceded to the throne upon the death of his elder brother King Pedro V.

One year after the wedding, Maria Pia gave birth to her first son and heir, Carlos, Duke of Braganza. In 1865 she had another son, Afonso, Duke of Porto.

As Queen, Maria Pia was considered by some as extravagant, but far more for her many charitable works in aid of the Portuguese people. She was known by the Portuguese people as an “angel of charity” and “mother of the poor” for her compassion and work on social causes. At a masquerade ball in 1865, she changed her costume three times. When the Portuguese parliament discussed her expenses, she replied saying “if you want a Queen, you have to pay for her”.

As Queen, she was largely responsible for the interiors of the Ajuda Royal Palace in Lisbon, still used to this day for banquets during state visits by foreign heads of state.

Maria Pia did not involve herself in politics, but in a conflict with João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha in 1870, she stated: “If I were the king, I would have you shot!”

King Luís died on 19 October 1889 and Maria Pia became queen dowager. She remained very active and continued with her social projects while holding a dominating position at court. She served as regent during the absence of the king and queen abroad. The queen dowager was devastated after the assassination of her son King Carlos I of Portugal and grandson Crown Prince Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, on 1 February 1, 1908 on the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon.

Queen Maria Pia and Luís I of Portugal

During her last years in Portugal, she withdrew from the public eye. She was deeply saddened after the military coup that deposed her remaining grandson, King Manuel II of Portugal by the October 5, 1910 Revolution.

Due to the 1910 coup that deposed Maria Pia’s grandson, Manuel II, and established the republic in Portugal, the whole Portuguese royal family was exiled. King Manuel and Queen Amelie went to England, while Maria Pia and Infante Afonso went to her native Italy, where she died on the of July 5, of the very next year in Stupinigi, and was interred in the Basilica of Superga.

September 4, 476: Fall of the Western Roman Empire

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Diocletian, Eastern Roman Empire, Julius Nepos, King of Italy, Odoacer, Romulus Augustus, The Roman Empire, Theodosius, Visigoths, Western Roman Empire

By the time of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305), the idea that the Roman Empire had grown so large that it would be better managed by two co-ruling emperors, rather than one, had become established. After various divisions were made throughout the 4th century, the empire was firmly and permanently divided into a western and eastern sphere of imperial administration from the death of emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395) in 395 onwards.

Though modern historians typically use the terms Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire to describe the new political situation, the Romans themselves never considered the empire to have been formally divided, still viewing it as a single unit, although most often having two rulers rather than one. Over the course of the 5th century, the western empire experienced a period of catastrophic decline. Not only were many of the rulers in the west generally lacking in competence, but they also faced enormous problems. In comparison with the eastern provinces, much of the west was more rural, with fewer people and a less stable economy. An increasing number of Germanic barbarian invasions and settlements throughout the west only added to these issues.

In 410, the Visigoths under Alaric I had sacked Rome and in 455, the last western emperor of Theodosius’ dynasty, Valentinian III (r. 425–455), was deposed and murdered. That same year, Rome was sacked again for the second time in less than fifty years, this time by the Vandals. The Roman army became increasingly reliant on barbarian mercenaries and after Valentinian’s murder, the most powerful barbarian generals, such as Ricimer (c. 418–472), became politically dominant, ruling through proclaiming puppet emperors. In the twenty years between the death of Valentinian and the accession of Romulus Augustus, eight different emperors ruled in the west. By 475, the western empire was in critical condition. Outside of Italy, authority was only exercised in Raetia and some regions of Gaul.

The ruling emperor in 475 was Julius Nepos, who had been in power for less than a year. Nepos had been appointed western emperor in 474 by the eastern emperors Leo I (r. 457–474) and Zeno (r. 474–491), but had little real support in the west. In 475, Nepos named Orestes as a patrician and magister militum (‘master of soldiers’; effectively commander-in-chief), replacing the previous holder of that office, Ecdicius.

Romulus Augustus (c. 465 – after 511?), commonly known by the nickname Augustulus, was Roman emperor of the West from October 31, 475 until September 4, 476. Romulus was placed on the imperial throne by his father, the magister militum Orestes, and, at that time still a minor, was little more than a figurehead for his father. After Romulus ruled for just ten months, the barbarian general Odoacer defeated and killed Orestes and deposed Romulus. As Odoacer did not proclaim any successor, Romulus is typically regarded as the last western Roman emperor, his deposition marking the end of the Western Roman Empire as a political entity. The deposition of Romulus Augustulus is also sometimes used by historians to mark the transition from antiquity to the medieval period.

Very few records survive of Romulus’ reign. There are no known policies, laws or inscriptions of significance of the emperor, which leaves the impression that he was a shadowy and relatively inconsequential figure. The nickname ‘Augustulus’ means “little Augustus” and was a derisive nickname referencing his young age. Romulus’ immediate family, including his father and possibly his mother, and maybe both his paternal and maternal grandparents, were from the Roman province of Pannonia, and many of his family members had military backgrounds.
Romulus came to power through usurpation of his predecessor, Julius Nepos (r. 474–475 in Italy) in 475.

Nepos fled to Dalmatia and continued to claim the imperial title in exile, which hampered Romulus’ legitimacy and ensured that he was never recognised by the eastern Roman emperor Zeno. In 476, the barbarian foederati (ally troops) in Italy demanded Italian lands to settle on, which was refused by Orestes. Under their leader Odoacer, the foederati defeated and killed Orestes and deposed Romulus, whereafter Odoacer became the first king of Italy and accepted emperor Zeno as his nominal suzerain.

Romulus’s life was spared by Odoacer, and he was allowed to retire to the castellum Lucullanum, a great fortress in Campania, near Naples. Little certain information is known concerning Romulus’s life in exile. He might have played a role in founding a monastery at castellum Lucullanum in the 480s or 490s, dedicated to Saint Severinus of Noricum. Romulus could have been alive as late as 507 or 511, when Theodoric the Great, Odoacer’s successor, wrote a letter to a “Romulus” concerning a pension. Romulus was likely dead before the mid-530s, as accounts of the eastern Roman invasion of Italy at that time do not mention him.

Coronation of Charles III, Holy Roman Emperor & King of the Franks

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Carolingian Empire, Charlemagne, Charles III, Charles The Fat, Charles the Great, Guy II of Spoleto, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, King of France, King of Italy, King of the Franks, Pope John VII

On this day in history: February 12, 881. Charles III “The Fat” was Crowned Emperor by Pope John VIII.

Charles III (June 13, 839 – January 13, 888), also known as Charles the Fat, was the Carolingian Emperor from 881 to 888. King of East Francia, 882-887. King of West Francia 884-887, Holy Roman Emperor, 881-887.

The youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, Charles was a great-grandson of Charlemagne (Charles the Great) He was the second-last emperor of the Carolingian dynasty and the last to rule, briefly, over a re-united Frankish empire.

Over his lifetime, Charles became ruler of the various kingdoms of Charlemagne’s former Empire. Granted lordship over Alamannia in 876, following the division of East Francia, he succeeded to the Italian throne upon the abdication of his older brother Carloman of Bavaria who had been incapacitated by a stroke. Crowned Emperor in 881 by Pope John VIII, his succession to the territories of his brother Louis the Younger (Saxony and Bavaria) the following year reunited the kingdom of East Francia. Upon the death of his cousin Carloman II in 884, he inherited all of West Francia, thus reuniting the entire Carolingian Empire.

Nickname and number

The nickname “Charles the Fat” (Latin Carolus Crassus) is not contemporary. It was first used by the Annalista Saxo (the anonymous “Saxon Annalist”) in the twelfth century. There is no contemporary reference to Charles’s physical size, but the nickname has stuck and is the common name in most modern European languages (French Charles le Gros, German Karl der Dicke, Italian Carlo il Grosso).

His numeral is roughly contemporary. Regino of Prüm, a contemporary of Charles’s recording his death, calls him “Emperor Charles, third of that name and dignity” (Latin Carolus imperator, tertius huius nominis et dignitatis).

On July 18, 880, Pope John VIII sent a letter to Guy II of Spoleto seeking peace, but the duke ignored him and invaded the Papal States. John responded by begging the aid of Charles in his capacity as King of Italy and crowned Charles Emperor on February 12, 881. This was accompanied by hopes of a general revival in western Europe, but Charles proved to be unequal to the task. Charles did little to help against Guy II. Papal letters as late as November were still petitioning Charles for action.

In some lists of the kings of France both Charles the Fat and Charles the Simple are listed as Charles III. I have also seen some lists where Charles the Bald is listed as Charles I of France and Charlemagne is listed as Charlemagne instead of Charles the Great without an ordinal. The lists where Charles the Bald is listed as Charles I, Charles the Fat is listed as Charles II. There are some lists that omit Charles the Fat entirely.