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Petition by Italian Jews presented to "S. R. M." in Piedmont Ducy of Savoy, requesting civil and economic rights. Apparently directed to Napoleon whose victorious armies brought civic emancipation to the Jews in all the countries of Central and Western Europe where governments dependent on him were formed. He proclaimed the emancipation of the Jews in the Italian states which he had established, and the majority of the Jews in Italy hailed Napoleon as a liberator and political savior, calling him "Helek Tov" (lit. "Good Part"; cf. Bona-Parte).
The Piedmont Ducy of Savoy was occupied by French troops in 1797, under the protection of which the Piemontese Republic was established (Dec. 10th 1798). Duke Charles Emmanuel IV., King of Sardinia, who had succeeded his father in 1796, was declared deposed (1798). In 1802 the region was annexed by France. The Piemontese/Subalpine Republic leaned heavily on France, introduced Fench style reforms, its coinage was based on the French Franc. |
