Vittorio Francesco, Marquis of Susa

Biography

His mother, Madame de Verrue, was the French wife of a prominent Piedmontese diplomat working for the Duke of Savoy. At the Savoyard capital of Turin, the Duke of Savoy became infatuated with the young countess and in 1689, Jeanne Baptiste gave in to the duke's overture, encouraged by the Duchess of Savoy Anne Marie d'Orléans and her uncle, the French king Louis XIV.

When Victor Amadeus II became so obsessed with Jeanne Baptiste that he had her shut up from view of the court for some time, Jeanne Baptiste fled Savoy and sought refuge in France, ruled by Louis XIV. When Vittorio's mother fled Savoy in 1700, he and his sister Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy were left in Savoy and were cared for by a loving father. Victor Amadeus II had them both legitimised and created them Marquis and Marchesa of Susa.

Vittorio had a military career and led the Piedmontese troops against a French-Spanish army in the Battle of Villafranca (1744), where he was taken prisoner.

He married in 1760 with Maria Lucrezia Franchi (died 1777), daughter of Gaspare Orazio Franchi, Count of Ponte Chianale. They had no children.

Ancestry