weak but religious king of Sardinia–Piedmont who was forced to abdicate to the French after ruling for only six years.

Charles Emmanuel succeeded to the throne vacated by his father, Victor Amadeus III, on Oct. 14, 1796. When his kingdom was disturbed by several republican uprisings in 1797, he became unpopular for executing revolutionaries, including many Jacobins, who introduced radical French ideals.

An opponent of the French Revolution, Charles Emmanuel was forced to cede all his mainland possessions to France by the French general B. C. Joubert (Dec. 9, 1798). Charles Emmanuel then retired to Sardinia with his wife. When Naples was overrun by the French (1799), he gave up hope of being restored and went to Rome, where he finally abdicated his throne (June 4, 1802) to his brother Victor Emmanuel I and joined a religious society.