Ferdinand I (Sicily)

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Ferdinand IV (I) of Naples and Sicily

Ferdinando Antonio Pasquale Giovanni Nepomuceno Serafino Gennaro Benedetto von Bourbon (born January 12, 1751 in Naples ; † January 4, 1825 there ) was an infant of Spain and, as Ferdinand IV, King of Naples (October 6, 1759 - January 23, 1799; 13 June 1799 - March 30, 1806; May 22, 1815 - December 12, 1816), as Ferdinand III. King of Sicily (1759–1815) and, as Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies (1815 / 16–1825).

Life

Ferdinand was born in 1751 as the third son of Charles III. of Spain (1716–1788) and Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony (1724–1760) in Naples.

Ferdinand as King of Naples and Sicily at the age of nine, 1760

Under guardianship

When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759 , his son succeeded him as Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily as king. Ferdinand was too young to take full responsibility of a sovereign. The rulership of Naples-Sicily was made up of the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily. The two kingdoms were ruled in personal union. A Regency Council was formed with the following dignitaries: General Don Michele Reggio, Bailli the Maltese; Jacopo Milano, Prince of Ardore and Marquis of San Giorgio; Pietro Bologna, Prince of Camporeale; Giuseppe Pappacorda, Prince of Céntola; Bernardo Tanucci, Professor of Law; Domenico Cattaneo , Prince of San Nicandro; Domenico Di Sangro, Captain General of the Army and Lelio Carafa, Marquis d'Arienzo.

Two personalities soon emerged on the Regency Council: Domenico Cattaneo and the Marchese Bernardo Tanucci . The first, who also acted as the young king's teacher, is interested in his training and education; the second, one of the most famous Tuscan lawyers of his time, dealt primarily with law and political issues. Tanucci had all the characteristics of a good minister of state, he was dynamic and had realistic visions of a government, he knew that in the future the church and the clergy would no longer have a predominant part in the civil and political life of the country. Cattaneo, Prince of San Nicandro, on the other hand, was conservative and stood for the protection of the privileges of the nobility and the church, and he had little political ability.

Seizure of power

Even after Ferdinand came of age on January 12, 1767, Marchese Bernardo Tanucci retained a decisive influence and ruled in the spirit of the Enlightenment .

King Ferdinand and his first wife Maria Karolina with their children; Painting by Angelika Kauffmann , 1782

On May 12, 1768, Ferdinand married Maria Karolina of Austria in Caserta , a daughter of Maria Theresa , who in fact took over the government after Tanucci's resignation in 1777, appointed Acton as first minister in 1784 and, in the face of the French Revolution, established a strict police regiment, liberalism with sharp Pursued sentences and joined the coalition against France in 1793. Maria Karolina finally gave birth to 18 children between 1772 and 1793, including the future heir to the throne, Francesco Gennaro . When the French Revolution broke out, Maria Karolina feared a revolution in her own country due to the great poverty of the people. The sympathies she had for the Jacobins during the Revolution turned after the murder of her sister Marie Antoinette and her brother-in-law Louis XVI. in 1793 in dislike of the new regime in France. For this reason, in the First Coalition War , they brought Naples to the side of the opponents of France, which also included England, Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Sardinia and Portugal. At the beginning of 1795 Maria Karolina succeeded in deciphering a confidential letter sent to her husband Ferdinand. Ferdinand had received this document from his brother, King Charles IV of Spain , who stated that he intended to reorient himself politically and to make peace with France. The Neapolitan Queen gave a copy to the British Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville on April 29th.

In 1796 there was a new change in politics in Naples, and Bonaparte's successes in arms in northern Italy weakened the Austrian party. The successes of the Republican Army in Italy forced Ferdinand to make peace with the Republic of France in 1796. Nevertheless, he allied himself with Austria , Russia and Great Britain in 1798 and penetrated as far as Rome . The result was the entry of a French army under General Championnet in Naples.

Horatio Nelson was given the task of removing the royal family, the British ambassador and other personalities from the threatened city. About 600 people embarked on December 21, 1798 on board the HMS Vanguard and other ships and left Naples on December 23. After a stormy crossing, they arrived in Palermo on December 26th . After the king fled, the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed on January 23, 1799.

Shortly afterwards there were royalist uprisings against the governments installed by France. Naples could be recaptured on June 21, 1799 by the army loyal to the king under Cardinal Fabrizio Dionigi Ruffo , which had formed in a short time. The court returned to Naples in January 1800 and had numerous apostates executed.

Although the integrity of the Kingdom of Naples had been established in a treaty between Spain and Napoleon, Ferdinand had to cede the Stato dei Presidi in the Peace of Florence with France of March 18, 1801 and allow French occupations in his states, as well as promise in the Treaty of Neutrality of 1805 that Refuse landing of troops of Powers at war with France.

When a British-Russian army landed in Naples in November 1805, Napoleon ordered the deposition of the Bourbon dynasty in Naples on December 27, 1805 , and Ferdinand had to flee again to Sicily in January 1806 . Joseph Bonaparte was made king of the two Sicilies, Ferdinand asserted himself in Sicily with the help of the British. On July 15, 1808, Napoleon appointed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat King of Naples. In 1811 Ferdinand came under fire in the British Cabinet . He has been accused of brutal, lavish misgovernment. In 1812, under pressure from Great Britain, he left the government to his son Franz .

restoration

Lucia Migliaccio Duchess of Floridia

Shortly thereafter, however, Ferdinand was reinstated in all rights by the Congress of Vienna . In 1812 he repealed the Sicilian constitution and moved back to Naples on June 17, 1815 after Joachim Murat's escape. On October 13, 1815, Joachim Murat was shot dead. Queen Maria Karolina died on September 8, 1814 in exile at Hetzendorf Castle as a result of a stroke and did not live to see the restoration and return of the throne at the Congress of Vienna. As early as November 27, 1814, Ferdinand had morganatically married his long-time favorite Lucia Migliaccio e Borgia , the widowed princess of Partanna , in Palermo , whom he made Duchess of Floridia in 1815 . Ferdinand united Sicily and the mainland part of his empire into a kingdom of the two Sicilies by decree of December 8, 1816 and from then on called himself Ferdinand I. Ferdinand concluded a concordat with the Roman See on February 16, 1818 .

Revolution and last years

Uprising in Palermo in 1820

As a result of the Carbonari revolution of 1820, he had to swear the Spanish constitution of 1812, but obtained armed aid from Austria against the government he appointed at the Ljubljana Congress in 1821 . In February 1821 an Austrian contingent of 52,000 men under General Frimont crossed the Po and advanced with five detachments to secure the cities of Ancona, Tolentino, Foligno, Terni, Rieti, Arezzo, Spoleto and Empoli. On March 7, 1821, the constitutionalists commanded by Guglielmo Pepe , who were 40,000 strong, were defeated by the Austrian troops at the Battle of Rieti . The Austrians continued their advance and entered Naples on March 23 without resistance. After the intervention of the Austrians, Ferdinand I revoked the promises of the constitution that had been granted and severe penalties against the liberals followed. The country, which was already financially drained, had to pay for their supplies as a result of the strong imperial garrison remaining in the country.

Ferdinand I died on January 4, 1825 and was buried in the Santa Chiara Church. He was succeeded by his son Franz I.

progeny

Ferdinand had the following 18 children with Maria Karolina of Austria :

  • Maria Theresa (6 June 1772 - 13 April 1807), Princess of Spain and the Two Sicilies ⚭ Emperor Franz II.
  • Maria Luisa Amelia Teresa (* July 27, 1773 - September 19, 1802), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies ⚭ Grand Duke Ferdinand III. of Tuscany
  • Carlo of Naples and Sicily (January 4, 1775 - December 17, 1778), Prince of Spain and both Sicilies, Duke of Calabria
  • Maria Anna (born November 23, 1775 - † February 22, 1780), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies
  • Francesco I. Gennaro (born August 19, 1777 - † November 8, 1830), King of the Two Sicilies
  • Maria Cristina (January 17, 1779 - February 26, 1783), Princess of Spain
  • Maria Cristina Teresa (born January 17, 1779 - March 12, 1849), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies ⚭ King Carlo Felice I of Sardinia-Piedmont
  • Carlo Gennaro (April 12, 1780 - January 1, 1789), Prince of Spain and the Two Sicilies
  • Giuseppe Carlo (June 18, 1781 - February 19, 1783), Prince of Spain and the Sicilies of both
  • Maria Amalia Theresa (born April 26, 1782; † March 24, 1866), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies ⚭ Ludwig Philip of France
  • Maria Cristina, (* / † July 19, 1783), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies
  • Maria Antonietta (14 December 1784 - 21 May 1806), Princess of Spain and the Sicilies of both King Ferdinand VII of Spain
  • Maria Clothilda (born February 18, 1786; † September 10, 1792), Princess of Spain and both Sicilies
  • Maria Henrietta (July 31, 1787 - September 20, 1792), Princess of Spain and the Two Sicilies
  • Carlo Gennaro (born August 26, 1788 - February 1, 1789), Prince of Spain and the Two Sicilies
  • Leopoldo (July 2, 1790 - March 10, 1851), Prince of Spain and the Two Sicilies, Duke of Salerno
  • Alberto Maria (born May 2, 1792; † December 26, 1798), Prince of Spain and the Two Sicilies
  • Maria Isabella (December 2, 1793 - April 23, 1801), Princess of Spain and the two Sicilies

ancestors

Pedigree of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies
Great-great-grandparents

King
Louis XIV of France (1638–1715)
⚭ 1660
Maria Teresa von Habsburg (1638–1683)

Elector
Ferdinand Maria of Bavaria (1636–1679)
⚭ 1650
Henriette Adelheid of Savoy (1636–1676)

Ranuccio II. Farnese , Duke of Parma and Piacenza (1630–1694)
⚭ 1664
Isabella von Este (1635–1696)

Elector
Philipp Wilhelm of the Palatinate (1615–1690)
⚭ 1653
Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (1635–1709)

Elector Johann Georg III. von Sachsen (1647–1691)
⚭ 1666
Anna Sophie of Denmark and Norway (1647–1717)

Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1644–1712)
⚭ 1671
Sophie Luise of Württemberg (1642–1702)

Emperor Leopold I (1640–1705)
⚭ 1676
Eleonore Magdalene von der Pfalz (1655–1720)

Duke Johann Friedrich von Braunschweig-Calenberg (1625–1679)
⚭ 1668
Benedicta Henriette von der Pfalz (1652–1730)

Great grandparents

Louis le Grand Dauphin (1661–1711)
⚭ 1680
Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (1660–1690)

Odoardo II. Farnese , Hereditary Duke of Parma and Piacenza (1666–1693)
⚭ 1690
Dorothea Sophie von der Pfalz (1670–1748)

King August II of Poland (1670–1733)
⚭ 1693
Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1671–1727)

Emperor Joseph I (1678–1711)
⚭ 1699
Wilhelmine Amalie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (1673–1742)

Grandparents

King Philip V of Spain (1683–1746)
⚭ 1714
Elisabetta Farnese (1692–1766)

King August III. of Poland (1696–1763)
⚭ 1719
Maria Josepha of Austria (1699–1757)

parents

King Charles III of Spain (1716–1788)
⚭ 1738
Maria Amalia of Saxony (1724–1760)

Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies

predecessor Office successor

Charles IV
Parthenopean Republic
Joachim Murat
King of Naples
1759–1799
1799–1806
1815–1816

Parthenopean Republic of
Joseph Bonaparte
absorbed in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Charles IV King of Sicily
1759–1816
risen in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
emerged from the kingdoms of Naples
and Sicily
King of the Two Sicilies
1816–1825
Franz I.

literature

  • Egon Caesar Conte Corti : I, a daughter of Maria Theresa. A picture of the life of Queen Marie Karoline of Naples. Bruckmann, Munich 1950.
  • Pietro Colletta: Histoire de Naples Depuis Charles VI Jusqu'à Ferdinand IV. 1734-1825 , Librairie Historique de Ladvocat, Paris 1840.

Individual evidence

  1. Pietro Colletta: Histoire de Naples Depuis Charles VI Jusqu'à Ferdinand IV., Volume 1. p. 163.

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand I.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files