Treaty of Turin (1696)

Northern Italy provided access to the vulnerable southern borders of both France and Austria, making Milan and the Duchy of Savoy essential to their security.^[a] In 1631, France annexed Pinerolo in Piedmont and occupied Casale Monferrato, while much of their territory was on the northern side of the Alps in modern France. As a result, most viewed Savoy as a French satellite state.^[1]

During the 1688-89 Nine Years' War between France and the Grand Alliance, Savoy held the key to France's vulnerable southern borders. This concern was heightened by an ongoing Huguenot Camisard revolt in the south west, while the Allies began recruiting support among the Waldensians, a Protestant sect in the Swiss Canton of Vaud, persecuted by both Savoy and France. By summer 1690, it was clear that Savoy could not avoid involvement on one side or the other.^[2]

Victor Amadeus II ultimately decided in favour of the Alliance, hoping to regain Pinerolo and Casale, which controlled access to his capital, Turin. Defeated by the French at Staffarda in August 1690, his duchy was only saved by receiving reinforcements from Spain, Bavaria and Brandenburg-Prussia. In 1692, Victor Amadeus made a short-lived invasion of the Dauphiné, but the war was financially crippling for participants. Crop failures in France and northern Italy between 1693 and 1695, widespread famine was caused, with Piedmont being one of the worst affected areas.^[3]

In October 1693, Victor Amadeus was defeated at Marsaglia, while Leopold I now claimed Casale as an Imperial possession. This meant replacing the French would not benefit Savoy, and in November 1694, Victor Amadeus intensified informal talks with Louis XIV.^[4] In early 1695, France secretly agreed to surrender Casale if its defences were destroyed,^[b] and in July Victor Amadeus took possession. With the Allies increasingly suspicious, treaty negotiations were conducted in secret between the Comte de Tessé and Savoy's senior diplomat, the Marquis de St-Thomas.^[5]

All Savoyard territories occupied by France would be returned, including Pinerolo after its fortifications had been destroyed, and Savoyard Protestants would be prevented from supporting French Camisard rebels. Victor Amadeus's longstime French-born mistress, Jeanne Baptiste d'Albert de Luynes, helped broker the marriage of his eldest daughter, Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, to Louis's grandson, the Duke of Burgundy.^[6] That increased Savoy's status within Europe, and a series of deaths in the French royal family meant that Marie Adélaïde's younger son would succeed his great-grandfather in 1715 as Louis XV.^[7]

Terms were finally agreed by the end of June, but the treaty was only signed on 29 August to allow Bavaria, Brandenburg-Prussia and Spain to withdraw their contingents from the forces outside Pinerolo.

The most controversial clause was the agreement by Victor Amadeus to help France compel the Allies to agree a truce. In September 1696, a combined Savoyard-French army besieged Valenza, then part of the Duchy of Milan. On 7 October, France, Savoy, Emperor Leopold and Spain^[c] signed the Convention of Vigevano, establishing an armistice. The Nine Years War was formally ended by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick which incorporated the Treaty of Turin.^[8]

By splitting the Allies, Savoy's defection enabled Louis to obtain better terms at Ryswick, and although France relinquished Pinerolo, Savoyard territories in Transalpine France were almost impossible to defend, and occupied again between 1704 and 1714. Victor Amadeus recovered Pinerolo and Casale, while his daughter's marriage enhanced Savoy's position on the European stage. The cost was a devastated and impoverished country, and "a reputation for...cynical self-interest he would never shake off, (that) earned the enmity of his former allies but not the friendship of Louis XIV".^[7]