En el real serbicio de vuestra majestad: El Cardenal Mauricio de Saboya entre Turín, Roma, Madrid y París = At the Royal Service of His Majesty : The Cardenal Maurizio of Savoy between Turin and Rome, Madrid and Paris

Prince Maurizio of Savoy (1593-1657) was the sixth son of Charles Emmanuel I duke of Savoy and of the Infanta Catalina Micaela of Habsburgs. Since he was a kid, his father decided him to become a cardenal, to have a member of the family directly linked to the Papacy and to increase the dinastic power of Savoy and its image in Rome too. So the young Maurizio started to follow the paternal politics very soon, supporting the duke and the brothers Victor Amadeus and Thomas during the first war of Monferrato and playing the role of confident of their sisters and the French ambassadors in Turin. His diplomatic career continued in Paris, where he negociated the wedding between Victor Amadeus and the sister of Louis XII Cristina of Bourbon (1619), and in Rome, where he became famous as a maecenas too. Nevertheless, as he was educated in the Spanish style, his attitude was not only francophile, but also very favorable to the Catholic monarchy. Through the examination of his large correspondence, this paper aims to stress the changing positions of Maurizio during his life, with particular attention to his baroque ability in mainteining good relationships with Paris and Madrid. A demonstration that, considering the influence of Rome too, a multiplex loyalty was possible.