Maurice of Savoy was a Prince of Savoy and an 17th century cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

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Life

He was the son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy

Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy

Charles Emmanuel I , known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630...

 and Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain. Aged 14, in 1607, he became cardinal and bishop of Vercelli

Vercelli

Vercelli is a city and comune of about 47,000 inhabitants in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around the year 600 BC.The city is situated on the river Sesia in the plain of the river...

. On 4 June 1627 he became the abbot of the monastery at Abondance

Abondance, Haute-Savoie

Abondance is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies in the French Alps just south of Lake Geneva on the Swiss border. The people of this commune are referred to as Abondanciers....

 and in 1637, on the death of his elder brother Victor Amadeus I

Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy

Victor Amadeus I was the Duke of Savoy from 1630 to 1637. He was also titular King of Cyprus and Jerusalem. He was also known as the Lion of Susa-Biography:...

, he and his brother Thomas

Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano

Thomas Francis of Savoy was an Italian military commander, the founder of the Savoy-Carignano branch of the House of Savoy which reigned as kings of Sardinia from 1831 to 1861, and as kings of Italy from 1861 until the...

 claimed the regency of the duchy against Victor Amadeus's widow Christine Marie of France

Christine Marie of France

Christine of France was the sister of Louis XIII and the Duchess of Savoy by marriage. At the death of her husband Victor Amadeus I in 1637, she acted as regent of Savoy between 1637 and 1648....

, but the king supported Christine and confirmed her as regent. In 1642 he left the clergy to became prince of Oneglia

Oneglia

Oneglia was a town in northern Italy on the Ligurian coast that was joined to Porto Maurizio to form the Comune of Imperia in 1923....

 (1642) and marquis of Berzezio (1648). On 28 August 1642 he married his brother Victor Amadeus's daughter Louise-Christine of Savoy (1629-1692) in Turin.

It was Maurice who owned the future Villa della Regina

Villa della Regina

The Villa della Regina is a palace outside the city of Turin, Italy. It was originally built by the House of Savoy in the 17th century.-History:...

and was an inhabitant of the future Palazzo Chiablese

Palazzo Chiablese

The Palazzo Chiablese is a building which is part of the Royal Palace of Turin, northern Italy. It was the successive home of the Duke of Chablais and then Carlo Felice, king of Sardinia and Ferdinando the Duke of Genoa. It is today the home of a cultural collection which honouring the history...

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Ancestry