The French attacks of 2792-1793 were repelled by the inhabitants, Cagliari being unsuccessfully bombarded by the French fleet, and the refusal by Victor Amadeus III.
Turin was always a place of importance and military strength, in spite of numerous vicissitudes, till at length it was made the chief town of Piedmont by Amadeus, first duke of Savoy.
Raimond Balthazar Phelypeaux, seigneur du Verger, a member of the La Vrilliere branch, was sent as ambassador to Savoy in 1700, where he discovered the intrigues of the duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II., against France; and when war was declared he was kept a close prisoner by the duke (1703-1704).
The Order of St Maurice was originally founded by Amadeus VIII., duke of Savoy, in 1434, when he retired to the hermitage of Ripaille, and consisted of a group of half-a-dozen councillors who were to advise him on such affairs of state as he continued to control.
