HUMBERT, RANIERI CARLO EMANUELE GIO VANNI MARIA FERDINANDO EUGENIO 1900), King of Italy, son of Victor Emmanuel II. and of Adelaide, archduchess of Austria, was born at Turin, capital of the kingdom of Sardinia, on March 14, 1844. His education was entrusted to Massimo d'Azeglio, Pasquale Stanislao Man cini and others. Entering the army on March 14, 1858 as a captain, he was present at Solferino in 1859, and in 1866 com manded a division at Custozza. Attacked by the Austrian cavalry near Villafranca, he formed his troops into squares and drove the assailants towards Sommacampagna, remaining himself throughout the action in the square most exposed to attack. With Bixio he covered the retreat of the Italian army, receiving the gold medal for valour. On April 21, 1868 he married his cousin, Margherita Teresa Giovanna, princess of Savoy. On Nov. II, 1869 Margherita gave birth to Victor Emmanuel, prince of Naples, afterwards Victor Emmanuel III. of Italy.
Ascending the throne on the death of his father (Jan. 9, 1878), Humbert adopted the style "Humbert I. of Italy" instead of Humbert IV., and consented to the burial of his father at Rome in the Pantheon, and not in the royal mausoleum of Superga. He began a tour of the kingdom. On entering Naples (Nov. 17, 1878) he was attacked by a fanatic named Passanante. The king warded off the blow with his sabre, but Cairoli, the prime min ister, in attempting to defend him, was severely wounded. The would-be assassin was condemned to death, but the king com muted the sentence to penal servitude for life. In 188r King Humbert, again accompanied by Cairoli, resumed his interrupted tour, and visited Sicily and the southern Italian provinces. In 1882 he took part in the national mourning for Garibaldi, whose tomb at Caprera he repeatedly visited. When, in the autumn of 1882, Verona and Venetia were inundated, he hastened to the spot, directed salvage operations, and provided large sums of money for the destitute. He showed similar devotion at the Ischia earthquake of 1883, and the cholera epidemic at Naples in 1884.
Compared with those of his grandfather, Charles Albert, and of his father, Victor Emmanuel, the reign of Humbert was tranquil. Scrupulously observant of constitutional principles, he followed, as far as practicable, parliamentary indications in his choice of premiers, only one of whom—Rudini—was drawn from the Conservative ranks. He approved the conclusion of the Triple Alliance, and in repeated visits to Vienna and Berlin, established and consolidated the pact. Towards Great Britain his attitude was invariably cordial, and he considered that the Triple Alliance should be supplemented by an Anglo-Italian naval entente. His support of the policy of colonial expansion tended to diminish his popularity after the disaster of Adowa on March I, 1896. His popularity was, however, enhanced by the firmness of his attitude towards the Vatican, as exemplified in his telegram de claring Rome "intangible" (Sept. 20, 1886), and affirming the permanence of the Italian possession of the Eternal City. Above all King Humbert was a soldier, jealous of the honour and prestige of the army to such a degree that he promoted a duel between his nephew, the count of Turin, and Prince Henry of Orleans (Aug. 15, 189 7) on account of the aspersions cast by the latter upon Italian arms. Humbert's claims to popular affec tion were enhanced by his munificence in the relief of innumer able private wants into which he had made personal inquiry. The regard in which he was universally held was abundantly demonstrated on the occasion of the unsuccessful attempt upon his life made by the anarchist Acciarito near Rome on April 22, 1897, and still more after his assassination at Monza by the anarchist Bresci on July 29, 1900. Good-humoured, active, ten der-hearted, somewhat fatalistic, but, above all, generous, he was spontaneously called "Humbert the Good." He was buried in the Pantheon in Rome, by the side of Victor Emmanuel II., on Aug. 9, 1900.
See Stillman, The Union of Italy, 1815-1895 (1898) ; Pedrotti, Vita e regno di Umberto I re d'1 talia (19o1) .