Antonio I Boncompagni (10 April 1658 – 28 January 1731) was an Italian nobleman and the 6th Duke of Sora. By his marriage, he also was Prince-Consort of Piombino.

Biography

He was the fourth son of Ugo, 4th Duke of Sora and Duchess Maria Ruffo di Bagnara.
He grew up in the shadow of his 3 elder brothers, and was not expected to succeed his father.
But when his eldest brother

Gregorio Gregorio is a masculine given name and a surname. It may refer to: Given name * Gregorio Conrado Álvarez (1925–2016), Uruguayan army general and de facto President of Uruguay from 1981 until 1985 * Gregorio Álvarez (historian) (1889–1986), A ...

only had daughters, and the two other brothers became clerics, it was decided in 1701 that Antonio would marry his brother's eldest daughter Maria Eleonora, to succeed his brother. Antonio and Maria Eleonora had 5 children : *Maria Olimpia (1703-05), *Niccolo (1704-09), *Francesca Cecilia (1705-75), married Francesco Maria Carafa, IV principe di Belvedere, * Gaetano (1706-1777), their successor, *Pietro Gregorio (1709-1747), married Maria Francesca Ottoboni, II Duchess of Fiano. Indeed, his brother died in January 1707, and Antonio became the next Duke of Sora. But he had attracted widespread attention before in 1701. After the failure of the

Conspiracy of Macchia The Conspiracy of Macchia ( it, Congiura di Macchia) was a three-day uprising occurring in Naples in 1701, immediately after the ascension of the first Bourbon monarch to the Spanish throne, an event that precipitated the War of the Spanish Successi ...

, the conspirators fled the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

towards the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. One of these, Giambattista di Capua, prince Della Riccia, had ventured into the fiefdoms of the Boncompagni, with whom he was related, finding a night refuge in a small church near Isola di Sora. As soon as Antonio heard of this news, he gave immediate orders to arrest the prince, despite the blood ties that united them and the violation of the sacred right of asylum in a church. The prince was sent back to Naples where he was imprisoned in Castel dell'Ovo. At the time, the episode caused a considerable stir, attracting the ire of the pro-Austrians and the applause of the pro-Spanish Italians. The Pope even threatened Antonio with a solemn excommunication. The story of Antonio and Prince Della Riccia also reached the ears of King

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

who, intending to exploit this episode for his own propaganda, decided to publicly reward Boncompagni by creating him Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and in 1702 awarded him with the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece ( es, Insigne Orden del Toisón de Oro, german: Orden vom Goldenen Vlies) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1430, to celebrate his marriage ...

. In 1707 he also made him commander of a company of cavalry. His fortune turned when the Austrians conquered Naples during and after the War of Spanish Succession. His pro-Spanish reputation excluded him from taking an active part in the social, court or political life of the Kingdom. Antonio I decided to live the rest of his life in his fiefdom of Sora, working hard for the implementation of the local fiber processing and weaving industry, especially in Isola del Liri and Arpino, establishing commercial routes with the Papal States. He died in Isola del Liri on 28 January 1731, three years before the return of the Spaniards as rulers of Naples.

References

Treccani
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boncompagni, Antonio II 1658 births 1731 deaths 17th-century Italian nobility 18th-century Italian nobility Order of the Golden Fleece People from the Province of Frosinone Duchy of Sora