Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica - Austrian Succession and Transfer To Savoy

Austrian Succession and Transfer To Savoy

Sardinia was too poor to attract the interest of other European states and 35 Aragonese, later Spanish viceroys followed for three centuries. The situation changed in 1700 when the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg ended, causing the War of the Spanish succession, which divided the mainland from its eastern dependencies, Sardinia going to the Austrian Empire, the other Habsburgs' State, under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht.

However, Austria was not interested in this remote dependency, and it found a big occasion when Spain rejected the peace conditions and invaded Sardinia and Sicily in 1717 and 1718. Sicily had been given to the Duchy of Savoy since 1713, and Austria offered help to King Victor Amadeus II under a heavy condition: the final changeover of rich Sicily with poor Sardinia. Face to the risk of a total loss, Victor Amadeues was obliged to accept, and the War of the Quadruple Alliance led to the Spanish defeat. The Treaty of The Hague ratified the passage of Kingdom of Sardinia to Savoy in 1720.

Victor Amadeus tried other protests, but he accepted the final arrangement in 1723 when he changed the name of his State into Kingdom of Sardinia, Cyprus and Jerusalem. Sardinia gave its name to the State because it had the higher title between all the countries of the House of Savoy, but it continued to be ruled by a viceroy, with the exception of the 1802–14 period when, the mainland having been conquered by Napoleon, King Victor Emmanuel I governed from Cagliari.

When liberal Charles Albert became king, Sardinian people started to ask to be part of the economic and legislative reforms of the mainland. So, in 1847, the king declared the perfect fusion of his State, which adopted a centralized system. As all other constituent countries, Sardinia disappeared as an administrative entity, being divided in three divisions, later called provinces: Cagliari, Nuoro and Sassari. The Viceroyalty of Sardinia so disappeared and the 110th viceroy, Claudio Gabriele de Launay, ended his functions in 1848, being replaced by three different provincial prefects.