Francis II (Sicily)
Francesco II. Maria Leopoldo (born January 16, 1836 in Naples , † December 27, 1894 in Arco , then Welschtirol , now Trentino , Italy), from the House of Bourbon-Sicily , was the last king of the two Sicilies from 1859 to 1861 .
Life
Franz was born the son of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Christina of Savoy . Since his childhood he was nicknamed Bombino ( the little bomber ), an allusion to his father's popular nickname Re Bomba (" Bomb King") after he ordered the bombing of Messina in 1849 to suppress an uprising .
On February 3, 1859, he married Duchess Marie in Bavaria (1841-1925), a daughter of Max Joseph in Bavaria and his wife Ludovika, in Bari . She was the younger sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the older sister of Mathilde in Bavaria , the wife of Franz 'half-brother Ludwig of Naples-Sicily , Count von Trani. Franz suffered from a congenital impairment ( phimosis ), which he had not had surgically corrected before the wedding. As a result, the marriage could not initially be consummated.
“The young king was of good will, but inexperienced.” Indecisive and wavering between his advisers, he did not tackle the urgently needed reforms to overcome the poverty of most of his subjects. Franz was deposed as King of the Two Sicilies in 1861 in the course of the Italian unification, the Risorgimento . Marie and Franz II first sought refuge in the fortress of Gaeta , with the highly religious Franz only taking 66 reliquaries and the ashes of St. Iasonia with them, as he assumed that the situation would calm down within a few days. Only a few loyal to the king defended the fortress (see General Felix von Schumacher , the defender of Gaeta). On February 13, 1861, the young king signed the surrender.
In exile in Rome, Franz fell more and more into mysticism and cared little about what his wife Marie was doing. After his wife had secretly given birth to an illegitimate child, she decided to explain everything to her husband. He not only forgave her, but finally had an operation so that the marriage could now be consummated. The new life together was sealed with the birth of the daughter, who died after a few months.
On Lake Starnberg , Franz II lived temporarily in Garatshausen Castle , which his wife Marie had bought from her brother Duke Ludwig in 1870 . King Franz spent the winters in Arco in Tyrol not far from Lake Garda , where he died on December 27, 1894. Queen Marie outlived him by thirty years. After her death, she was transferred from Munich, the king of South Tyrol, to Rome to her daughter, who was buried in the Chiesa dello Spirito Santo dei Napoletani . The church is on Via Giulia. In 1984 the remains were reburied from there in the burial place of the Sicilian Bourbon basilica Santa Chiara in Naples.
progeny
- Maria Christina of Sicily (1869–1870)
Web links
- Franz II of Naples in Baden near Vienna : Local news. Archduke Carl Ludwig. In: Badener Bezirks-Blatt , July 4, 1882, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
- Locales. High visit. In: Badener Bezirks-Blatt , October 31, 1882, p. 2 (online at ANNO ).
supporting documents
- ^ Rudolf Lill : History of Italy from the 16th century to the beginnings of fascism . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1980. ISBN 3-534-06746-0 . P. 37.
- ^ Giuseppe Ressa: L'invasione e la fine delle Due Sicilie: L'esilio di Francesco II e sua morte . Edited by Alfonso Grasso. Article on the website of the Centro Culturale e di Studi Storici “Brigantino- il Portale del Sud”, Naples and Palermo, 2008, accessed on February 13, 2016
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Ferdinand II. |
King of the Two Sicilies 1859–1861 |
- |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Francis II |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Francesco II. Maria Leopoldo |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | King of Sicily and Naples |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 16, 1836 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Naples |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 27, 1894 |
| Place of death | Arco |