V I c 



V I c 



end of the year 201, or the beginning of 202. None of his 

 writings are extant, though, according to St. Jerom, he 

 was the firft ecclefiallical author who ufed the Latin lan- 

 guage. His zeal for the church has caufed him to be en- 

 rolled among the faints of the Roman calendar. Dupin. 

 Bower. 



Victor II., pope, was the fucceflbr of pope Leo IX., 

 and elevated to the papal chair by the influence of Hilde- 

 brand, afterwards pope Gregory VII., and by the fpecial 

 appointment of Henry III., emperor of Germany. The 

 perfon chofen was Gebehard, bilhop of Eichftat, a rela- 

 tion of the emperor, who againft his own inclination was 

 confecrated in April 1055, and aflumed the name of Vi^or. 

 Soon after his promotion he held a general council at Flo- 

 rence, for the correftion of various abufes, and the con- 

 demnation of Berengarius's doflrine concerning the Eucha- 

 ritt. Hildebrand maintained his influence during this pon- 

 tificate, and availed himfelf of an opportunity that offered 

 for extending the civil authority of the papal fee. This 

 was the recognition of Henry III. as the only true emperor, 

 againft the claims of Ferdinand, king of Caitile and Leon. 

 The pope's requifition, though at firft vigoroufly op- 

 pofed in Spain, ultimately prevailed. la 1056 a council 

 was held at Touloufe, which pafled feveral canons againft 

 limony, and the incontinence of the clergy. Whilft this 

 council was fitting, Viftor was fummoned by a fpecial 

 meflage from the emperor Henry to attend him in his laft 

 moments. The pope, in compliance with his dying intreaty, 

 recognized his fon, Henry IV., for his fucceflbr in the em- 

 pire. After his return to Italy he held a council at Rome, 

 and then retired to Tufcany, where he died in July 1057. 

 A fingle letter of this pope remains : and fuperftition has 

 recorded fome miracles that were wrought during his pon- 

 tificate. Dupin. Bower. 



Victor III., pope, one of three perfons named by 

 Gregory VII. in 1085, when he was dying, and recom- 

 mended to the caidinals as his fucceffor. The perfon chofen 

 wai Defiderius, abbot of Monte Cafiino, defcended from 

 the family of the dukes of Benevento, and born about 

 1027. He had embraced a monaftic life in 1050, and was 

 chofen abbot of Monte CafGno in 1058, and in the follow- 

 ing year created cardinal. It was v/ith great reluctance that 

 ho confented, in 108 5, to accept the pontiiicate, and as 

 foor. as the attendant ceremonies were completed, he with- 

 drew to his monaftery. In the following year a council was 

 held at Capua, which conttraiiied him to accept the pope- 

 dom in March 1087, and he was folemnly confecrated in 

 the church of St. Peter by the name of Viftor III. His 

 eleftion was contefted by the antipope Guibert and his ad- 

 herents ; but he was zealoufly fupported by the countefs 

 Matilda, who by force of arms eftabliftied him at Rome, 

 though he was not long after obliged to withdraw to Monte 

 Caffino. Here he engaged the Italian princes to form a 

 league againft the African Saracens. Soon afterwards he 

 fummoned a council at Benevento, at which Guibert was 

 anathematized, and the decrees of Gregory againft lay in- 

 veftitures and fimony were renewed. During the feflion of 

 this council he was taken ill, and after recomifiendiag Otho, 

 bifhop of Oftia, for his fucceflbr, he retired to Monte Caflino, 

 and died in September 1087. Whilft he was abbot he wrote 

 four books of dialogues on tlie miracles of St. Benedift, 

 and the other monks of Monte Caflino, three of which are 

 pubhflied in Mabillon's " Ada Sanftorum." Dupin. 

 Bower. 



Victor-Amadeus II., duke of Savoy, and firft king 

 cf Sardinia, was born in 1666, and fucceeded his father, 



Charles-Emanuel II., in 1675. ^" 1684 he married Annz- 

 Maria of Orleans, daughter to the duke of Orleans, bro- 

 ther of Lewis XIV., by Henrietta-Anne of England, which 

 marriage would have conveyed to the houfe of Savoy the 

 next hereditary right to the Britifh throne, after the houfe 

 of Stuart, if it had not been fet afide by its profeflion of 

 the Roman Catholic religion. The firft military tranfaftion 

 of this prince, which is not very honourable to his memory, 

 was the expulfion, by much flaughter, of his Proteftant fub- 

 jefts of the Vaudois. In 1687, however, he joined the 

 grand alliance againft France, in which treaty the reftoration 

 of the Vaudois was a fecret article. Voltaire charafterizes 

 him as a wife, politic, courageous prince, ur.derftanding the 

 art of war, and praftifing mihtary difcipline ; but charge- 

 able with faults, both as a fovereign and a? a general. In 

 the firft war againft France he was a fevere fufferer ; but in 

 1696 a treaty was concluded, by which all the places he 

 had loft were reftored, and a fum of money was granted to 

 him by way of indemnification ; and a contract of marriage 

 was fettled between his eldeft daughter and the duke of 

 _Burgundy, heir apparent to the crown of France. The 

 duke of Savoy then joined his troops to ihofe of his new 

 ally, and he foon after became generahfiirao of Lewis XIV. 

 Soon after thefe events, another conneftion was formed be- 

 tween the houfe of Bourbon and the duke of Savoy, by the 

 marriage of Phihp, duke of Anjou, grandfon of Lewis XIV. 

 called to the throne of Spain, to the duke's fecond daugh- 

 ter : and thus he had the rare fortune of feeing the two 

 principal kingdoms of Europe occupied by his immediate 

 defcendants. Neverthelefs, at the commencement of the 

 fucceflion-war, in 1702, the duke abandoned the intereft of 

 thefe courts, and entered into fecret negociations with the 

 allied powers. The French court, having found that he 

 had figned a treaty with the emperor, adopted lioftile mea- 

 fures, and took from him a number of towns, and in 1706 

 laid fiege to his capital, Turin, which he bravely refitted, 

 until he was eflfeftually fuccoured by prince Eugene, who 

 attacked the French in their trenches, and raifed the fiege. 

 The duke, having recovered the towns which he had loft, 

 aflifted the Imperialifts in driving the French from Lom- 

 bardy. The duke afterwards had fome dlfagreement with 

 the emperor, and remained inatlive till the treaty of 

 Utrecht, in 1713. In this general pacification, fuch was 

 the high eftimation in which he was held by all parties, 

 that he was reftored to the poiTeflion of the duchy of 

 Savoy, the county of Nice, and all their dependencies. 

 The king of France yielded to liim two ftrong fortrefles, 

 and feveral valleys among the mountains ; and the ridge 

 of the Alps was made the boundary between France on 

 one fide, and Piedmont and Nice on the other. The 

 emperor confirmed to him that part of Montierrat which 

 had belonged to Mantua, with feveral provinces and terri- 

 tories in Italy ; and his Catholic majefty refigned to him the 

 kingdom of Sicily, which gave his houfe the royal title ; 

 and it was moreover agreed, that in default of hf irs to the 

 king of Spain, that crown fliould pafs to the houfe of Savoy, 

 in preference to that of Bourbon. Viftor-Amadeus and 

 his fpoufe were crowned at Palermo, in the clofe of that 

 year, and the Spaniards evacuated Sicily : but fome dif- 

 ferences occurring between him and the court of Spain, it was 

 required that he fliould fend his eldeft fon to Spain, as a kind 

 of hoftage. Upon his non-compliance with this requiution, 

 Alberoni, the prime minifter of Spain, made preparations 

 for conquering Sicily from Viftor, and Sardinia from the 

 emperor. France and England interpofed in the difpute ; 

 and it was finally determined, that Viftor fttould refign 



Sicily, 



