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 SAREPTA

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SAREPTA

which was interrupted from 1773 till 1820. In 1792 the French admiral, Truquet, attempted to land at Caghari but was repulsed. In the following years there were several attempts to throw off the power of the Piedmontese. Iving Charles Emmanuel IV took refuge in the island from 1799 till 1S06, when his domains were invaded by the French. The Congress of Vienna gave the RepubUc of Genoa to the Sardin- ians. The kingdom then contained thirtj^-seven pro%'inces. Between 1S20 and 1848 feudalism, which in 1807 had caused widespread rebellion of the bur- gesses against the nobles, was abolished. Another project was the construction of a vast network of roads which were greatly needed. In general however the Savoy and Italian Governments have neglected the wants and interests of the Sardinians. In 1861 after the annexation of almost all the peninsula the Kingdom of Itaty was proclaimed at Florence and that of Sardinia came to an end.

The follo^^ing is a hst of the kings: Victor Ama- deus II (1718-30), who abdicated in favour of his son Charles Emmanuel III (1730-73), regretting which he was imprisoned at Moncalieri where he died (1732). Charles Emmanuel to conquer the Milanese allied himself with France and Spain, in the War of the Po- lish Succession; he was frequently victorious but only obtained the region on the right of the Ticino (1738). He took part in the War of the Austrian Succession; gained splendid victories (the siege of Toulon, 1746; the battle of Col dell' Assietta, 1747), but with very little profit, gaining only the county of Angera and Arona, the valley of Ossola, Vigevano, and Bobbio. Victor Amadeus III (1773-96), for having crushed the nationalist movement in Savoy (1791) with ex- cessive severitj^, was overthrown b)^ the revolutionary armj- which captured Savoy and Nizza. He allied himself with Austria and the campaign was conducted with varying fortunes, but when Bonaparte took com- mand of the French troops Victor Amadeus had to agree to a humiliating peace. Charles Emmanuel IV (1796-1802) made an offensive treaty with France, whereupon his subjects revolted. The rebeUion was crushed with severity and thousands of democrats emigrated either into PVance or to the Cisalpine Re- public, whence they returned in arms. The royal- ists having obtained the upper hand, France inter- vened and obliged the king to abandon his possessions on the mainland (19 December, 1798). Charles Emmanuel withdrew to Sardinia; and in 1802 abdi- cated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I (1802-21), who in 1814 was returned to Turin and saw his dominions increased by the inclusion of Genoa.

As happfncnl elsewhere the restoration did not do justifc to the legitimate aspirations of the democrats. There f<jl!owed the revolution of 1821 caused by a demand for a C<mstitution and for war with Austria to obtain pos-session of I^ombardy, which Piedmont ha<^i coveted for centuries. As the king had agreed with Austria and Naples not to grant the Constitution, he abdicated in favour of Charles Fe\\\, his brother, who wa.s absent at the time; Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, assumed the regency and on 13 March, 1821, promulgated the Constitution of Spain, which wa.s not accepted by Charles Felix (1821-31). Mean- while, the revolutionary party ha/1 joined in the move- ment for Italian unity, but there was difference of opinion as to the form of that unity, whether there should be a great republic, or a federation of repub- lics, or again a single monarchy or a federation of principalities. Many however were indifferent to the form. In 1831, therf;fore, disturbances began in Cen- tral Italy but were easily suppres.sf;d. The same year Charles Iu;lix died without offspring and was succeeded by Charles Albert (1831-48). The Piedmontese then decided in favour of a United Kingdom of Italy under the Housf! of Savoy, and to that end all th(! efforts of the Sardinian Government were henceforward di-

rected. In 1S47 Charles Albert granted freedom of the press and other liberal institutions. On 8 Feb- ruary he promulgated the statute which still remains the fundamental law of the Kingdom of Italy. One month later he declared war on Austria in order to come to the rescue of the Lombards who were eager to throw off the Austrian yoke at once. Though victorious in the first engagements, he suffered a severe defeat at Custoza and, after the armistice of Salasco, was again defeated at Novara (1849).

The King of Sardinia had for the time being to abandon his idea of conquest. Charles Albert ab- dicated in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel II (1849-78) and withdrew to Oporto where he died the same year. There followed ten years of militarj' preparations, which were tested in the Crimean War, and vigorous diplomatic and sectarian operations to the detriment of the other Italian rulers, carried out under the direction and inspiration of Count diCavour, who did not hesitate to enter into league with Mazzini, the head of the Republicans, knowing well that the latter's principles while bringing about the destruction of the other ItaUan states on the one hand, could not. on the other, serve as a basis for a permanent political organization. In 1859 the Sardinian Government, aided by France, declared war on Austria and captured all Lombardy with the exception of Mantua. At the same time in Tuscany, the Duchies of Parma and Modena, the legations, the marcjuisates, and in Umbria the national committees established provisional gov- ernments and declared the supremacy of the House of Savoy. Garibaldi landed in Sicily and passed thence into Calabria. The royal armies everywhere joined with the revolutionary party and on 27 March, 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed which included all the peninsula except Venice and the Patrimony of St. Peter.

The King of Sardinia was confirmed by Pope Bene- dict XIII in his right of nominating bishops and other high dignitaries, a right conceded previously by Nicholas V to the dukes of Savoy. In 1742 a concordat was concluded between the Sardinian Government and the Holy See, which granted ex- tensive privileges to the Government, which were increased further by Clement XIV and Pius VI. As the Italian Concordat of 1803 was extended to Pied- mont after the restoration there was no doubt as to the validity of the old and the new treaties. Conse- quently in 1816 Pius VII made suitable provisions, and in 1824 an agreement concerning the adminis- tration and distribution of ecclesia.stical property waa arrived at. In 1854 attempts were made to have a new concordat, but as on the one hand, the demands of the Government were too exorbitant, and, on the other, the civil authorities had enacted laws injurious to the Church, nothing was done. After the promul- gation of the Constitution of th(! Kingdom of Sardinia the following dioceses wen; founded or else re-estab- H.shed: in Sardinia, Iglesi:us (1764); Galtelli-Nuoro (1780); Bisarchio (1805); Ogliastro (1824); on the peninsula: Pinerolo (174S), Susa (1772), Cuneo (1817), Biella(1772). Duringtlie Revolutionary epoch (1805) the dioceses of Alba, I^'ossano, Alessandria, Pinerolo, Susa, Biella, Aosta, Bobbio, Tortona, were suppressed. In 1817 Vcrcelli became an archiepiscopal see.

CoHHU, La Snrrleijna (Home, 1901); Hrewiani, / costumi dclla Srirdcgna (Milan, 18!)): Cimhai.i, La Sarilcgna i in Italiaf Mattel Sardinia Sacra (Homo, 1701); Vi'stv a, Sardinia Sacra, I (lK!esias, 1001); Bogcjio, La f'liir.vi e. In Slalo di Sardeona dot WOO al isr,/, (Turin, 1851); Manno, Sloria di Sardegna (.3rd ed., Turin, IS.'J.J).

U. Benigni. Sardis. See Sardes.

Sarepta, a t itular see in Phoenicia Prima, suffragan of Tyre. It is mentioned for the first time in the voy- age of an Egyptian in the fourteenth century n.c. Chabas, "Voyage d'un Egyjitien" (Chalons, 1866), 20, 101, 163. Abdias (i, 20), says it was the northern