Charles Emmanuel II was just four years old when his father died in 1638, leaving the Duchy of Savoy under regency control split between his mother Christine of France and his Savoyard uncles, Thomas Francis of Carignan and Cardinal Maurice of Savoy. The regency immediately fractured into open conflict — the "Madame Wars" — with the uncles seizing Turin in 1639 and issuing coinage in their own names alongside the child duke's. This piece dates to that precise window of contested authority, the only period when Thomas and Maurice appear as co-issuing regents on Savoyard currency.
Charles Emmanuel II was just four years old when his father died in 1638, leaving the Duchy of Savoy under regency control split between his mother Christine of France and his Savoyard uncles, Thomas Francis of Carignan and Cardinal Maurice of Savoy. The regency immediately fractured into open conflict — the "Madame Wars" — with the uncles seizing Turin in 1639 and issuing coinage in their own names alongside the child duke's. This piece dates to that precise window of contested authority, the only period when Thomas and Maurice appear as co-issuing regents on Savoyard currency.