Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy
Encyclopedia : A : AM : AMA : Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy
Amadeus VIII (1383 – November 7, 1451) surnamed the Peaceful was the Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and was elevated by Emperor Sigismund to the Duke of Savoy in 1416. Amadeus was also the antipope Felix V from November 1439 to April 1449.
In 1418 his distant cousin Louis of Savoy-Achaea, his brother-in-law, died as the last male of the elder branch of House of Savoy, leaving him as his heir-male, thus finally uniting the male-line clams of Savoy.
He increased his dominions, encouraged several attempts to negotiate an end to the Hundred Years' War, and, after the death of his wife, retired from his position as Duke to become a hermit. Elected by the Council of Basel as an alternative Pope in opposition to Pope Eugene IV, Amadeus served as Anti-pope Felix V before stepping down to accept a Cardinal's office instead.
(Note on numbering: Pope Felix II is now considered an anti-pope. At the time however, this fact was not recognized and so the second true Pope Felix is known by the official number III. This has advanced the numbering of all subsequent Popes Felix by one. Popes Felix III-IV are really the second through third popes by that name. It also affected the name taken by the anti-pope Felix V, who if he had been pope, really would have been the fourth Felix.)
Family and children
He married Mary of Burgundy (1380-1422), daughter of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy and granddaughter of John II of France and had nine children:- Margaret of Savoy (1405-1418)
- Anthony of Savoy (1407)
- Anthony of Savoy (1408)
- Margaret of Savoy (1410-1479) married to:
- # Louis III, titular king of Naples;
- # Louis IV, Count Palatine of the Rhine;
- # Ulrich V, Count of Wurttemberg.
- Mary of Savoy (1411-1469), married Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan.
- Amadeus of Savoy, Prince of Piemonte (1412-1431)
- Louis of Savoy (1413-1465), his successor
- Bonne of Savoy (1415-1430)
- Philip of Savoy, Count of Genève (1417-1444) unmarried.
See also
External links
|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.