Ferdinand, Duke of Parma
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Ferdinand I (''Ferdinando Maria Filippo Lodovico Sebastiano Francesco Giacomo''; 20 January 1751 – 9 October 1802) was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from his father's death on 18 July 1765 until he ceded the duchy to
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
by the Treaty of Aranjuez on 20 March 1801. He was a member of the Spanish
House of Bourbon The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a European dynasty of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanis ...
.


Early life

Born at the Ducal Palace of Colorno as the second child and only son of
Philip, Duke of Parma it, Filippo di Borbone , house = Bourbon-Parma (founder) , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = , birth_place = Royal Alcazar, Madrid, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Alessan ...
and Princess
Louise Élisabeth of France es, María Luisa Isabel de Borbón it, Maria Luisa Elisabetta di Francia , spouse = , issue = Isabella, Archduchess Joseph of Austria-Tuscany Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma Maria Luisa, Queen of Spain , house = Bourbon , fat ...
, he was considered to be the favorite grandson of his maternal grandfather King
Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
. As a grandson in the male line 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 ...
, he was created an ''
infante ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to t ...
'' of Spain upon his father's death. As a grandson of King Louis, Ferdinand was also a direct descendant of England's
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
. As the heir to one of the largest collection of sovereign duchies, Ferdinand was an attractive candidate for many royal ladies of Europe. Probable candidates included Princess Maria Beatrice Ricciarda of Modena, daughter of
Ercole III d'Este Ercole III d'Este (Ercole Rinaldo; 22 November 1727 – 14 October 1803) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1780 to 1796, and later of Breisgau (not resident). He was a member of the House of Este. Biography He was born in Modena, the son of Du ...
and (like Ferdinand) an in law of
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
. She was, through her
mother ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given childbirth, birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the cas ...
, heiress to the
Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara ( it, Ducato di Massa e Principato di Carrara) was a small state that controlled the towns of Massa and Carrara from 1473 until 1829. History Although the city of Massa had already known its maxim ...
, but despite being the last descendant of the Este, she was not also the heiress to the
Duchy of Modena and Reggio The Duchy of Modena and Reggio ( Emilian: ''Duchêt ed Mòdna e Rèz'', it, Ducato di Modena e Reggio, la, Ducatus Mutinae et Regii) was an Italian state created in 1452 located in Northwestern Italy, in the present day region of Emilia-Romagn ...
due to the
Salic law The Salic law ( or ; la, Lex salica), also called the was the ancient Frankish civil law code compiled around AD 500 by the first Frankish King, Clovis. The written text is in Latin and contains some of the earliest known instances of Old Du ...
that was in force there. Ferdinand's possible marriage to Princess Maria Beatrice was, however, very unlikely since the latter had been engaged to
Archduke Leopold of Austria Leopold I (Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician; hu, I. Lipót; 9 June 1640 – 5 May 1705) was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The second son of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, by his first wife, Maria ...
at a very young age and later on to Leopold's younger brother Archduke Ferdinand upon the death of an older brother,
Archduke Charles Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...
. It is likely that a union between Parma and Modena was only promoted in vain by Parma's minister,
Guillaume du Tillot Léon Guillaume (du) Tillot (Bayonne, 22 May 1711 — Paris, 1774) was a French politician infused with liberal ideals of the Enlightenment, who from 1759 was the minister of the Duchy of Parma under Philip, Duke of Parma and his wife Princess Lou ...
, since the engagement of Modena's princess to an Austrian Archduke was already agreed very early on. Another candidate was Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans who offered a very large dowry; she was the only surviving daughter of
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans Louis Philippe d'Orléans known as ''le Gros'' (''the Fat'') (12 May 1725 – 18 November 1785), was a French prince, a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the royal dynasty that ruled France. The First Prince of the Blood af ...
and the sister of
Philippe Égalité Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Coun ...
. The decision of who his future spouse would be was sealed by his mother's close correspondence with the powerful Empress
Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position ''suo jure'' (in her own right). ...
of Austria, who had promised Ferdinand's parents the throne of the Netherlands, which had been returned to Austrian rule under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. This never occurred and, as a result, an alliance with the Austrian Empire was used to cement the two nations. This alliance was also encouraged by the Parmese Prime Minister, du Tillot, who had worked at
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
and had been exiled by
Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
due to his liberal ideas, which were not looked upon with much enthusiasm by those at Versailles.


Reign

Guillaume du Tillot was again used during Ferdinand's reign when he lost his father in 1765 at age 14. Negotiations and ideas were passed from Vienna to Parma, and in 1769 Ferdinand was to marry
Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria Maria Amalia may refer to: * Maria Amalia of Courland (1653–1711), princess of Courland from the Ketteler family * Maria Amalia of Nassau-Dillenburg (1582–1635), royal of the House of Nassau * Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (1782–1866), Qu ...
; the eighth child of the Empress and elder sister of the Queen of Naples and Sicily and the future
Queen of France This is a list of the women who were queens or empresses as wives of French monarchs from the 843 Treaty of Verdun, which gave rise to West Francia, until 1870, when the Third Republic was declared. Living wives of reigning monarchs technica ...
. Maria Amalia had a marriage by proxy in Vienna on 27 June and left her home on 1 July. The future duchess would meet her husband at
Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
on 16 July. His wife was with her brother
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...
and Ferdinand with members of the Sforza family. On 19 July there was a formal ceremony for all at the Ducal Palace of Colorno where Ferdinand had been born. During many festivities, the couple made their official entrance to Parma on 24 July. They had nine children in just under twenty years. Expelling the Jesuits, abolishing the jurisdiction of the Inquisition within his domains, and suppressing many redundant monasteries, Ferdinand has sometimes been classed among the more minor exponents of
Enlightened absolutism Enlightened absolutism (also called enlightened despotism) refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance ...
. Ferdinand ceded the Duchy of Parma to France in the
Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) The Treaty of Aranjuez (1801) was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. It confirmed a previous secret agreement in which Spain agreed to exchange Louisiana for territories in Tuscany. The treaty also stipulated Spain's cession of Lou ...
. The Treaty of Aranjuez was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. The overall accord confirmed the terms presented in the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Moreover, Ferdinand agreed to surrender the Duchy of Parma (with Piacenza and Guastalla) to France. Ferdinand's son Louis received the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which became the Kingdom of Etruria. Ferdinand III, the Habsburg
Grand Duke of Tuscany The rulers of Tuscany varied over time, sometimes being margraves, the rulers of handfuls of border counties and sometimes the heads of the most important family of the region. Margraves of Tuscany, 812–1197 House of Boniface :These were origin ...
, was compensated with the secularized territories of the
Archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese of ...
. He died in Parma at age 51, suspected to be poisoned although French authorities cited another reason for his death, and was buried in the church of Fontevivo Abbey. On his deathbed, however, he named a regency council with his wife Maria Amalia as its head, clearly still opposing the terms of the Treaty of Aranjuez regarding his duchy. The regency lasted only for days and the Duchy of Parma was annexed to France.


Issue

Ferdinand and his wife Maria Amalia had nine children: # Princess Carolina (22 November 1770 – 1 March 1804); married in 1792 to
Maximilian, Crown Prince of Saxony , image = El príncipe Maximiliano de Sajonia (Palacio Real de Madrid).jpg , caption = Portrait by Vicente López Portaña (1825) , spouse = , issue = , house = Wettin , father = Frederick Christi ...
and had eight children. # Prince Louis (5 July 1773 – 27 May 1803); married in 1795 to her cousin, Princess Maria Luisa of Spain, and they had two children. Louis became the first King of Etruria. # Princess Maria Antonia (28 November 1774 – 20 February 1841); she was engaged to a prince of the House of Savoy but he died and she became a Ursuline nun in 1803 with the name of ''Sister Luisa Maria''. # Princess Maria Carlotta (1 September 1777 – 6 April 1813); she became a Dominican nun in 1797 with the name of ''Sister Giacinta Domenica''. # Prince Philip Maria (22 May 1783 – 2 July 1786); died at the age of three years due to
scurvy Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
.Justin C. Vovk: In Destiny's Hands: Five Tragic Rulers, Children of Maria Theresa (2010) # Princess Maria Antonietta Luisa (21 October 1784 – 22 October 1785); died at the age of one year due to
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
. # Princess Maria Luisa (17 April 1787 – 22 November 1789); died at the age of two due to
pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...
.Justin C. Vovk: In Destiny's Hands: Five Tragic Rulers, Children of Maria Theresa (2010) # Stillborn son and daughter (21 May 1789).


Ancestry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferdinand I, Duke Of Parma 1751 births 1802 deaths House of Bourbon-Parma Princes of Bourbon-Parma Dukes of Parma Dukes of Guastalla Princes of Parma and Piacenza Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Burials at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata