House of Bourbon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The House of Bourbon is an important European royal house, a branch
of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in
the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty
also held thrones in Spain, Naples & Sicily, and Parma. Spain and
Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs.
Bourbon monarchs ruled Navarre (from 1555) and France (from 1589) until
the 1792 overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution.
Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the
First French Empire, the senior line of the Bourbons was finally
overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet branch, the House of
Orléans, then ruled for 18 years (1830–1848), until it too was
overthrown. The Princes of Condé (Bourbon-Condé) were a cadet branch of
the Bourbon-Vendômes and, in turn, were senior to the Princes of Conti
(Bourbon-Conti). Both these lines became extinct in the early nineteenth
century.
Philip V of Spain was the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, from 1700. The
Spanish Bourbons (in Spain the name is spelled Borbón and rendered into
English as Borbon[1][2]) have been overthrown and restored several
times, reigning 1700-1808, 1813-1868, 1875-1931, and 1975 to the present
day. From this Spanish line comes the royal line of the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies (1734-1806 and 1815-1860, and Sicily only in 1806-1816),
the Bourbon-Sicilies family, and the Bourbon rulers of the Duchy of
Parma.
Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg married a cadet of the
Bourbon-Parma line, and thus her successors, who have ruled Luxembourg
since her abdication in 1964, have also technically been members of the
House of Bourbon. The declared heiress and thrice-regent of the
now-defunct Empire of Brazil married twenty years before their
deposition a prince of Orleans, and their descent, known as the Orleans-Braganza,
would have ascended that throne, had the empire not ended in 1889.
Origins
The House of Bourbon was originally a noble family, dating at least
from the beginning of the 13th century, when the estate of Bourbon was
ruled by a Lord who was a vassal of the King of France.
The Capetian House of Bourbon
In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of
France married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon.
Their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the
Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the Bourbon line
when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V and lead a life of exile his title was
discontinued after his death.
However the junior line of La Marche-Vendôme remained, the ruling house
of the Dukedom of Vendôme. The Bourbon-Vendôme branch were to become
rulers of the Kingdom of Navarre on the northern side of the Pyrenees in
1555 and then of France, with Henry III of Navarre becoming Henry IV of
France
France
The rise of Henry IV
House of Bourbon
Henry IV of France
Spouse(s)
Marguerite de Valois · Marie de' Medici
Children
Louis XIII · Elisabeth, Queen of Spain · Christine Marie,
Duchess of Savoy · Nicholas Henri, Duke of Orléans · Gaston, Duke of
Orléans · Henriette Marie, Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland
Siblings
Henri, Duke of Beaumont (1551–1553) · Louis, Count of Marle
(1555–1557) · Madeleine (1556) · Catherine, Duchess of Lorraine
Illegitimate Children
César, Duke of Vendôme · Catherine Henriette, Duchess of Elbeuf
· Alexandre, Chevalier de Vendôme · Henri, Duke of Verneuil ·
Gabrielle Angelique, Duchess of La Valette and Epernon · Antoine, Count
of Moret · Jeanne Baptiste, Abess of Fontevraud · Marie Henriette,
Abess of Chelles
Grandchildren
Anne Marie Louise, Duchess of Montpensier · Marguerite Louise,
Grand Duchess of Tuscany · Élisabeth Marguerite, Duchess of Alençon and
Angoulême · Françoise Madeleine, Duchess of Savoy · Princess Marie
Anne · Gaston, Duke of Valois · Louis XIV of France · Philippe I,
Duke of Orléans
Louis XIII of France
Spouse(s)
Infanta Ana Maria Mauricia of Spain
Children
Louis XIV of France · Philippe I, Duke of Orléans
Grandchildren
Louis, Dauphin of France · Princess Anne Élisabeth · Princess
Marie Anne · Princess Marie Therèse, Madame Royale · Philippe Charles,
Duke of Anjou · Louis François, Duke of Anjou · Marie Louise, Queen of
Spain · Philippe Charles, Duke of Valois · Anne Marie, Queen of
Sardinia · Alexandre Louis, Duke of Valois · Philippe II, Duke of
Orléans · Élisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Lorraine
Louis XIV of France
Spouse(s)
Infanta María Teresa of Spain · Françoise d'Aubigné, Madame de
Maintenon
Children
Louis, Dauphin of France · Princess Anne Élisabeth · Princess
Marie Anne · Princess Marie Therèse, Madame Royale · Philippe Charles,
Duke of Anjou · Louis François, Duke of Anjou
Illegitimate Children
Charles de Bourbon · Philippe de Bourbon · Marie Anne,
Princess of Conti · Louis, Count of Vermandois · Louis Auguste, Duke
of Maine · Louis César, Count of Vexin · Louise Françoise, Princess of
Condé · Louise Marie Anne, Mademoiselle de Tours · Françoise Marie,
Duchess of Orléans · Louis Alexandre, Count of Toulouse · Louise de
Maisonblanche
Grandchildren
Louis, Duke of Burgundy · King Felipe of Spain · Charles, Duke
of Berry
Great
grandchildren
Louis, Duke of Brittany · Louis, Duke of Brittany · Louis XV of
France · Louis I of Spain* · Felipe of Spain · Felipe of Spain ·
Ferdinand VI of Spain* · Charles III of Spain* · Francisco of Spain*
· Mariana Víctoria, Queen of Portugal* · Philip, Duke of Parma* ·
Maria Teresa Rafaela, Dauphine of France* · Luis, Count of Chinchón* ·
Maria Antonietta, Queen of Sardinia* · Louise de Bourbon · Charles,
Duke of Alençon · Marie Louise Élisabeth de Berry
Louis XV of France
Spouse(s)
Maria Leszczyńska
Children
Marie Louise Élisabeth, Duchess of Parma · Princess Henriette
Anne · Princess Marie Louise · Louis, Dauphin of France · Philippe,
Duke of Anjou · Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Louvois · Princess Victoire
· Sophie Philippine, Duchess of Louvois · Princess Thérèse Félicité ·
Princess Louise Marie
Grandchildren
Princess Marie Therèse, Madame Royale · Princess Marie
Zéphyrine · Louis, Duke of Burgundy · Xavier, Duke of Aquitine ·
Louis XVI of France · Louis XVIII of France · Charles X of France ·
Clothilde, Queen of Sardinia · Princess Élisabeth
Illegitimate children
included
Charles de Vintimille · Agathe Louise de Saint-Antoine ·
Philippe, Duke of Narbonne-Lara · Louis, Count of Narbonne-Lara
Louis XVI of France
Spouse(s)
Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria
Children
Marie Thérèse, Duchess of Angoulême · Louis Joseph, Dauphin of
France · Louis XVII of France · Princess Sophie Hélène
Louis XVII of France
Note
Louis had no children; he died aged 10 in 1795. His uncle,
future Louis XVIII of France proclaimed himself regent but both titles
were disputed.
Louis XVIII of France
Spouse(s)
Princess Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy
Charles X of France
Spouse(s)
Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy
Children
Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême · Sophie, Mademoiselle ·
Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry
Grandchildren
Princess Louise Élisabeth · Prince Louis · Louise Marie
Thérèse, Duchess of Parma · Henri, Count of Chambord
The first Bourbon King of France was Henry IV. He was born on 13
December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre. Antoine de Bourbon, his father,
was a ninth generation descendent of King Louis IX of France. Jeanne
d'Albret, his mother, was the Queen of Navarre and the niece of King
Francis I of France. He was baptized Catholic, but raised Calvinist.
After his father was killed in 1563, he became Duke of Vendôme at the
age of 10, with Admiral Gaspard de Coligny (1519–1572) as his regent.
Five years later, the young duke became the nominal leader of the
Huguenots after the death of his uncle the Prince of Condé in 1568.
Henry succeeded to Navarre as Henry III when his mother died in 1572.
That same year Catherine de' Medici, the influential mother of King
Charles IX of France, arranged for the marriage of her daughter,
Margaret of Valois, to Henry as a peace offering between the Catholics
and Huguenots. Many Huguenots had gathered for the wedding held on 24
August and were massacred by the Catholics in what became known as the
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Henry saved his own life by converting
to Catholicism. He repudiated his conversion in 1576 and resumed his
leadership of the Huguenots.
The period from 1576 to 1584 was relatively calm in France, with the
Huguenots consolidating control of much of the south with only
occasional interference from the royal government. Extended civil war
erupted again in 1584, when François, Duke of Anjou, younger brother of
King Henry III of France, died, leaving Navarre next in line for the
throne. Thus began the War of the Three Henries, as Henry of Navarre,
Henry III, and the ultra-Catholic leader, Henry of Guise fought a
confusing three-cornered struggle for dominance. When Henry III was
assassinated on 31 July 1589 Navarre became the first Bourbon king of
France as Henry IV.
Much of Catholic France, organized into the Catholic League, refused to
recognize a Protestant monarch and instead recognized Henry IV's uncle,
Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, as king as Charles X, and the civil war
continued. Henry won a crucial victory at Ivry on 14 March 1590, and
following the death of the Cardinal the same year, the forces of the
League lacked an obvious Catholic candidate for the throne and divided
into various factions. Nevertheless, as a Protestant, Henry IV was
unable to take Paris, a Catholic stronghold, or to decisively defeat his
enemies, now supported by the Spanish. He reconverted to Catholicism in
1593—he is said to have remarked, "Paris is well worth a mass"[3]—and
was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Chartres on 27 February
1594.
Early Kings of France
Henry granted the Edict of Nantes on 13 April 1598, establishing
Catholicism as an official state religion, but otherwise assuring the
Huguenots equal rights with the Catholics. This compromise ended the
religious wars in France. That same year the Treaty of Vervins ended the
war with Spain, adjusted the Spanish-French border, and resulted in a
belated recognition by Spain of Henry as king of France.
Ably assisted by Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, Henry reduced the
land tax known as the taille; promoted agriculture, public works,
construction of highways, and the first French canal; started such
important industries as the tapestry works of the Gobelins; and
intervened in favor of Protestants in the duchies and earldoms along the
German frontier. This last was to be the cause of his assassination.
Henry's marriage to Margaret, which had produced no heir, was
annulled in 1599 and he married Marie de Medici, the niece of the grand
duke of Tuscany. A son, Louis, was born to them in 1601. Henry IV was
assassinated on 14 May 1610 in Paris. Louis XIII was only nine years old
when he succeeded his father. He was to prove a weak ruler, his reign
effectively a series of distinct regimes, depending who held the
effective reins of power. At first, Marie de Medici, his mother, served
as regent and advanced a pro-Spanish policy. To deal with the financial
troubles of France, Louis summoned the Estates General in 1614; this
would be the last time that body met until the eve of the French
Revolution. Marie arranged the 1615 marriage of Louis to Anne of
Austria, the daughter of King Philip III of Spain.
In 1617, however, Louis conspired with Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes
to dispense with her influence, having her favorite Concino Concini
assassinated on 26 April of that year. After some years of weak
government by Louis's favorites, the King made Armand Jean du Plessis,
Cardinal Richelieu, a former protégé of his mother, the chief minister
of France in 1624.
Richelieu advanced an anti-Habsburg policy. He arranged for Louis'
sister, Henrietta Maria, to marry King Charles I of England, on 11 May
1625. Her pro-Catholic propaganda in England was one of the contributing
factors for the English Civil War. Richelieu, as ambitious for France
and the French monarchy as for himself, laid the ground for the absolute
monarchy that would last in France until the Revolution. He wanted to
establish a dominating position for France in Europe, and he wanted to
unify France under the monarchy. He established the role of intendants,
non-noble men whose arbitrary powers were granted by (and revocable by)
the monarchy and superseded many of the traditional duties and
privileges of the noble governors.
Although it required a succession of internal military campaigns, he
abolished the fortified Huguenot towns that Henry had allowed. He
involved France in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) against the
Habsburgs in 1635. He died in 1642 before the conclusion of that
conflict, having groomed Jules Cardinal Mazarin as a successor. Louis
XIII outlived him but by one year, dying in 1643 at the age of
forty-two. After a childless marriage for twenty-three years he had a
son with Anne on 5 September 1638, whom he named after himself.
Louis XIV and Louis XV
When Louis XIV succeeded his father he was only four years old; he
would become the most powerful king in French history. His mother Anne
served as his regent with her favorite Jules Mazarin as chief minister.
Mazarin continued the policies of Richelieu, bringing the Thirty Years'
War to a successful conclusion in 1648 and defeating the noble challenge
to royal absolutism in a series of civil wars known as the Fronde. He
continued to war with Spain until 1659.
In that year the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed signifying a
significant shift in power, France had replaced Spain as the dominant
state in Europe. One of the terms of the treaty arranged the marriage of
Louis to his cousin Maria Theresa, the daughter of King Philip IV of
Spain, by his first wife Elizabeth, the sister of Louis XIII. They were
married in 1660 and had a son, Louis, in 1661. Mazarin died on 9 March
1661 and it was expected that Louis would appoint another chief
minister, as had become the tradition, but instead he shocked the
country by announcing he would rule alone.
Louis intended to glorify France by making war on his neighbors. For six
years he reformed the finances of his state and built formidable armed
forces. France fought three wars between 1667 and 1697 and gained some
minor territory. Maria Theresa died in 1683 and the next year he married
Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon. She had great influence over
him especially in matters of religion. Louis XIV was staunchly Catholic
and he revoked the Edict of Nantes on 18 October 1685, undoing the
religious tolerance established by grandfather, Henry IV, almost a
hundred years before.
The last war waged by Louis XIV proved to be one of the most important
to dynastic Europe. In 1700, King Charles II of Spain died without a
son. Louis's son the Grand Dauphin, as nephew to the late king, was
closest heir, and Charles willed the kingdom to the Dauphin's second
son, the Duke of Anjou. Other powers, particularly the Austrian
Habsburgs, who had the next closest claims, objected to such a vast
increase in French power.
Initially, most of the other powers were willing to accept Anjou's reign
as Philip V, but Louis's arrogance and blunders soon made the English,
the Dutch, and other powers join the Austrians in a coalition against
France. The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 and raged for 12
years. In the end Louis's grandson was recognized as King of Spain, but
Spain's other European territories were largely ceded to Austria, and
France was nearly bankrupted by the cost of the struggle. Louis died on
1 September 1715 ending his seventy-two year reign, the longest in
European history.
The reign of Louis XIV was so long that he had outlived both his son
and eldest grandson. He was succeeded by his great-grandson Louis XV.
Louis XV was born on 15 February 1710 and was thus aged only five at his
ascension, the third Louis in a row to become king of France before the
age of ten. Initially, the regency was held by the Philip, Duke of
Orleans, Louis XIV's nephew, as nearest adult male to the throne. This
Regency period was seen as one of debauchery and loose morals following
the austere nature of the latter years of Louis XIV's reign, which had
seen a series of cripplingly expensive wars and the King's turn to
religiosity.
Following Orleans's death in 1723, another junior Bourbon, the Duke of
Bourbon, the representative of the Bourbon-Condé line, became Prime
Minister. It was expected that Louis would marry his cousin, the
daughter of King Philip V of Spain, but this marriage was cancelled by
the duke in 1725 so that Louis could marry Maria Leszczynska, the
daughter of Stanislas, former king of Poland. Bourbon's motive appears
to have been a desire to produce an heir as soon as possible so as to
reduce the chances of a succession dispute between Philip V and the Duke
of Orleans in the event of the sickly king's death. Maria was already an
adult woman at the time of the marriage, while the Infanta was still a
young girl.
Nevertheless, Bourbon's action brought a very negative response from
Spain, and for his incompetence Bourbon was soon replaced by Cardinal
Fleury, the young king's tutor, in 1726. Fleury was a peace loving man
who intended to keep France out of war, but circumstances presented
themselves that made this impossible.
The first cause of these wars came in 1733 when Augustus II, the elector
of Saxony and king of Poland died. With French backing Stanislas was
again elected king. This brought France into conflict with Russia and
Austria who supported Augustus III, duke of Saxony and son of Augustus
II.
Stanislas lost the Polish crown, but he was given the Duchy of Lorraine
as compensation, which would pass to France after his death. Next came
the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740 in which France supported
King Frederick II of Prussia against Maria Theresa of Austria,
archduchess of Austria. Fleury died in 1743 before the conclusion of the
war.
Shortly after Fleury’s death in 1745 Louis was most influenced by his
mistress the Marquise de Pompadour. She reversed the policy of France in
1756 by creating an alliance with Austria against Prussia in the Seven
Years' War. The war was a disaster for France, losing most of her
overseas possessions to the British in the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
Great Britain replaced France as the most dominant European power.
Louis’ only son died in 1765 making his grandson the Dauphin. Maria, his
wife, died in 1768 and Louis himself died on 10 May 1774.
French Revolution
Louis XVI had become the dauphin of France upon the death of his
father, the son of Louis XV, in 1765. He married Marie Antoinette of
Austria, a daughter of Maria Theresa, in 1770. Louis intervened in the
American Revolution against Britain in 1778, but he is most remembered
for his role in the French Revolution. France was in financial turmoil
and Louis was forced to convene the Estates-General on 5 May 1789.
They formed the National Assembly and forced Louis to accept a
constitution that limited his powers on 14 July 1790. He tried to flee
France in June 1791, but was captured. The French monarchy was abolished
on 21 September 1792 and a republic was proclaimed. The chain of Bourbon
monarchs begun in 1589 was broken. Louis XVI was executed on 21 January
1793.
Marie Antoinette and her son, Louis, were held as prisoners. Many French
royalists proclaimed him Louis XVII, but he never reigned. She was
executed on 16 October 1793. He died of tuberculosis on 8 June 1795 at
the age of ten while in captivity.
The French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars spread nationalism and
anti-absolutism throughout Europe, and the other Bourbon monarchs were
threatened. Ferdinand was forced to flee from Naples in 1806 when
Napoleon Bonaparte deposed him and installed his brother, Joseph, as
king. Ferdinand continued to rule from Sicily until 1815.
Napoleon conquered Parma in 1800 and compensated the Bourbon duke with
Etruria, a new kingdom he created from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It
was short-lived, as Napoleon annexed Etruria in 1807.
King Charles IV of Spain had been an ally of France. He succeeded his
father, Charles III, in 1788. At first he declared war on France on 7
March 1793, but he made peace on 22 June 1795. This peace became an
alliance on 19 August 1796. His chief minister, Manuel de Godoy
convinced Charles that his son, Ferdinand, was plotting to overthrow
him. Napoleon exploited the situation and invaded Spain in March 1808.
This led to an uprising that forced Charles to abdicate on 19 March in
favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. Napoleon forced Ferdinand to return the
crown to Charles on 30 April and then convinced Charles to relinquish it
to him on 10 May. In turn, he gave it to his brother, Joseph, king of
Naples on 6 June. Joseph abandoned Naples to Joachim Murat, the husband
of Napoleon’s sister. This was very unpopular in Spain and resulted in
the Peninsular War, a struggle that would contribute to the downfall of
Napoleon.
The Bourbon Restoration
With the abdication of Napoleon on 11 April 1814 the Bourbon Dynasty
was restored to the kingdom of France in the person of Louis XVIII,
brother of Louis XVI. Napoleon escaped from exile and Louis fled in
March 1815. Louis was again restored after the Battle of Waterloo on 7
July.
The conservative elements of Europe dominated the post-Napoleonic age,
but the values of the French Revolution could not be easily swept aside.
Louis granted a constitution on 14 June 1814 to appease the liberals,
but the ultra-royalist party, led by his brother, Charles, continued to
influence his reign. When he died in 1824 his brother became king as
Charles X much to the dismay of French liberals. Talleyrand reportedly
remarked of the restored Bourbon rulers that they had "learned nothing
and forgotten nothing."
Aftermath
Charles passed several laws that appealed to the upper class, but
angered the middle class. The situation came to a head when he appointed
a new minister on 8 August 1829 who did not have the confidence of the
chamber. The chamber censured the king on 18 March 1830 and in response
Charles proclaimed five ordinances on 26 July intended to silence
criticism against him. This almost resulted in another revolution as
dramatic as the one in 1789, but moderates were able to control the
situation. As a compromise the crown was offered to Louis-Philippe, duke
of Orleans, a descendant of the brother of Louis XIV, and the head of
the Orleanist cadet branch of the Bourbons. He was proclaimed King of
the French on 7 August. The resulting regime, known as the July
monarchy, lasted until the Revolution of 1848. The Bourbon monarchy in
France ended on 24 February 1848, when Louis-Philippe was forced to
abdicate and the short-lived French Second Republic was established.
Some legitimists refused to recognize the Orleanist monarchy. After the
death of Charles in 1836 his son was proclaimed Louis XIX, though this
title was never formally recognized. Charles' grandson Henri, comte de
Chambord, the last Bourbon claimant of the French crown, was proclaimed
by some Henry V, but the French monarchy was never restored.
Following the 1870 collapse of the empire of Emperor Napoleon III, Henri
was offered a restored throne. The stubborn Chambord refused to accept
the throne unless France abandoned the revolution-inspired tricolour and
accepted what he regarded as the true Bourbon flag of France. The
tricolour, originally associated with the French Revolution and the
First French Republic, had been used by the July Monarchy, the Second
Republic and both Empires; the French National Assembly could not
possibly agree.
A temporary Third Republic was established, while monarchists waited for
the comte de Chambord to die and for the succession to pass to the Comte
de Paris, who was willing to accept the tricolour. Henri lived until
1883, by which time public opinion had come to accept the republic as
the "form of government that divides us least." His death without issue
marked the extinction of the French Bourbons. Thus head of the House of
Bourbon became the now eldest male heir of the dynasty Juan, Count of
Montizón of the Spanish line of the house who was also Carlist claimant
to the throne of Spain. His heir as eldest Bourbon and head of the house
is today Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou.
By an ordinance of Louis Philippe I of France of 13 August 1830, it was
decided that the king's children (and his sister) would continue to bear
the arms of Orléans, that Louis-Philippe's eldest son, as Prince Royal,
would bear the title of duc d'Orléans, that the younger sons would
continue to have their existing titles, and that the sister and
daughters of the king would only be styled "princesses d'Orléans", which
meant the Orleans royalty did not take the name "of France".
Ironically King Juan Carlos I of Spain is descended from both the House
of Orleans and the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Likewise Prince
Jean-Christophe Napoleon is descended from both the House of Bonaparte
and the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Early Bourbons of Spain and Italy
The Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon was founded by Philip V.
He was born in 1683 in Versailles, the second son of the dauphin, the
son of Louis XIV. He was the Duke of Anjou and probably never expected
to be raised to a rank higher than that. However King Charles II of
Spain was dying without issue and he adopted Philip as his heir, being
the great grandson of King Philip IV of Spain. Having a Bourbon king on
both the French and Spanish thrones disturbed the balance of power in
Europe and when Charles died on 1 November 1700 a Grand Alliance of
European nations united against Philip. In the Treaty of Utrecht signed
on 11 April 1713 Philip was recognized as king of Spain, but Sicily was
ceded to Savoy and the Spanish Netherlands, Milan and Naples went to
Austria.
Philip had two sons with his first wife. After she died he married
Elizabeth Farnese, the niece of Duke Francesco of Parma, in 1714. She
also gave Philip two sons and intended them to win back the lost
territory in Italy. She induced Philip to occupy Sardinia and Sicily in
1717.
A Quadruple Alliance of Britain, France, Austria and the Netherlands,
was organized on 2 August 1718 to stop him. In the Treaty of The Hague
signed on 17 February 1720 Philip renounced his claim to Sardinia and
Sicily, but assured the ascension of his eldest son with Elizabeth to
the Duchy of Parma upon the current duke’s death. Philip abdicated in
January 1724 in favor of Louis I, his eldest son with his first wife,
but Louis died in August and Philip resumed the throne.
When the War of the Polish Succession began in 1733 they saw it as
another opportunity to advance the claims of their sons. Philip formed
the Family Compact with Louis XV, his nephew and king of France. Their
son Charles, duke of Parma since 1731, invaded Naples. At the conclusion
of peace on 13 November 1738 Parma was ceded to Austria in exchange for
Naples and Sicily. Philip also used the War of the Austrian Succession
to win more territory in Italy. He did not see it to its conclusion
because he died in 1746.
Ferdinand VI, the second son of Philip V and his first wife, succeeded
his father. He was a peace-loving monarch who kept Spain out of the
Seven Years' War. He died in 1759 in the midst of that conflict and was
succeeded by his half brother Charles III. Charles was the eldest son of
Philip and Elizabeth. He was born in 1716 and became the Duke of Parma
when the last Farnese duke died in 1731. He conquered the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies during the War of the Polish Succession and became king
there as Charles IV in 1734 renouncing Parma to Austria. When he
ascended to the Spanish throne he abdicated in Sicily in favor of his
third son, Ferdinand. Charles revived the Family Compact with France on
15 August 1761 and joined in the Seven Years' War against Britain in
1762. He also opposed Britain during the American Revolution in June
1779. He died in 1788.
Elizabeth Farnese’s ambitions were realized at the conclusion of the War
of the Austrian Succession in 1748 when Parma was ceded by Austria to
her second son, Philip. Her eldest son, Charles, was already the king of
the Two Sicilies. She died in 1766.
Bourbon monarchs outside France
Upon the fall of the Napoleonic empire, Ferdinand I was restored to
the throne of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1815. His subjects
revolted on 2 July 1820 and he was forced to grant a constitution on 13
July. Austria invaded in March 1821 and revoked the constitution. He was
succeeded by his son, Francis I, in 1825 and by his grandson, Ferdinand
II, in 1830. Another revolution erupted on 12 January 1848 and Ferdinand
was also forced to grant a constitution on 10 February. This
constitution was revoked in 1849. Ferdinand was succeeded by his son,
Francis II, in May 1859.
When Giuseppe Garibaldi captured Naples on 7 September 1860 Francis
restored the constitution on 2 July in an attempt to save his
sovereignty. He failed and after the capture of the fortress of Gaeta
(13 February 1861) his kingdom was incorporated in the Kingdom of Italy
but only on 17 March 1861 because two other fortresses, Messina and
Civitella del Tronto, surrendered on 12 March 1861 9 p.m.(Messina) and
only on 20 March, Civitella. (As a matter of fact, when the Commander
Ascione was convinced to surrender by his King's order, there was still
a group of soldiers opposed to the surrender, led by the heroic Sgt.
Massinelli and the friar Leonardo Zilli. Ascione, however, succeeded in
infiltrating the mutinous group on the morning of 20 March and shot
Massinelli and Zilli. Thus fell the last fortress of the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies.)
After the fall of Napoleon, Napoleon's wife, Maria Louisa, was made
Duchess of Parma. As compensation, Charles Louis, the former king of
Etruria, was made the Duke of Lucca. When Maria Louisa died in 1847 he
was restored to Parma as Charles II. Lucca was incorporated into
Tuscany. He was succeeded by his son, Charles III, and grandson, Robert
I, in 1854. The people of Parma voted for a union with the kingdom of
Sardinia on 13 March 1860. After Italian unification in 1861 the Bourbon
dynasty in Italy was no more.
The Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty was the only one to survive
into the 20th century. Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain
after the fall of Napoleon in March 1814. Like his Italian Bourbon
counterpart his subjects revolted against him in January 1820 and he was
forced to grant a constitution. A French army invaded in 1823 and the
constitution was revoked. Ferdinand married his fourth wife, Maria
Christina, the daughter of Francis I, the Bourbon king of Sicily, in
1829. Despite his many marriages he did not have a son so on 30 June
1833 he was influenced by his wife to abolish the Salic Law so that her
daughter, Isabella, could become queen depriving his brother, Don
Carlos, of the throne.
Isabella II succeeded her father when he died on 29 September 1833. She
was only three years old and Maria Cristina, her mother, served as
regent. Maria knew that she needed the support of the liberals to oppose
Don Carlos so she granted a constitution in 1834. Don Carlos found his
greatest support in Catalonia and the Basques country because the
constitution centralized the provinces thus denying them the autonomy
they sought. He was defeated and fled the country in 1839. Isabella was
declared of age in 1843 and she married her cousin Francisco de Asis,
the son of her father’s brother, on 10 October 1846. A military
revolution broke out against Isabella in 1868 and she was deposed on 29
September. She abdicated in favor of her son, Alfonso, in 1870, but
Spain was proclaimed a republic for a brief time.
When the First Spanish Republic failed the crown was offered to
Isabella’s son who accepted on 1 January 1875 as Alfonso XII. Don
Carlos, who returned to Spain, was again defeated and resumed his exile
in February 1876. Alfonso granted a new constitution on July 1876 that
was more liberal than the one granted by his grandmother. His reign was
cut short when he died in 1885 at the age of twenty-eight.
Alfonso XIII was born on 17 May 1886 after the death of his father. His
mother, Maria Christina, the second wife of Alfonso XII served as
regent. Alfonso XIII was declared of age in 1902 and he married Victoria
Eugénie Julia Ena of Battenberg, the granddaughter of the British queen
Victoria, on 31 May 1906. He remained neutral during World War I, but
supported the military coup of Miguel Primo de Rivera on 13 September
1923. A movement towards the establishment of a republic began in 1930
and Alfonso fled the country on 14 April 1931. He never formally
abdicated, but lived the rest of his life in exile. He died in 1941.
The Bourbon dynasty seemed finished in Spain as in the rest of the
world, but it would be resurrected. The Second Spanish Republic was
overthrown in the Spanish Civil War, leading to the dictatorship of
Francisco Franco. He named Juan Carlos de Borbón, a grandson of Alfonso
XIII, his successor on 22 July 1969. When Franco died on 20 November
1975 a Bourbon monarch was restored to the throne of Spain two days
later as Juan Carlos I. The new king oversaw the Spanish transition to
democracy; the Spanish Constitution of 1978, approved on 28 September
1978, recognized the monarchy.
Though it is not as powerful as it once was under Louis XIV and it does
not reign in its native country of France, it is by no means extinct,
and the house of Bourbon has survived to the present day world of
republics. It seems likely that it will continue as well under Juan
Carlos' son, Felipe, who officially became heir apparent when he turned
eighteen years old in 1986.
List of Bourbons (from Louis XIV onwards)
List of Bourbon rulers
France
Monarchs of France
Dates indicate reigns, not lifetimes.
Henry IV, the Great (1589–1610)
Louis XIII, the Just (1610–1643)
Louis XIV, the Sun King (1643–1715)
Louis XV, the Well-Beloved (1715–1774)
Philippe II of Orléans (Regent) (1715–1723)
Louis XVI (1774–1792)
Claimants to the throne of France
Dates indicate claims, not lifetimes.
Louis XVI (1792–1793)
Louis XVII (1793–1795)
Louis XVIII (1795–1814)
Monarchs of France
Dates indicate reigns, not lifetimes.
Louis XVIII (1814–1824)
Charles X (1824–1830)
Louis XIX (1830)
Louis-Philippe (House of Bourbon-Orléans) (1830-1848)
Legitimist claimants in France
Dates indicate claims, not lifetimes.
Charles X (1830–1836)
Louis XIX (1836–1844)
Henri V (1844–1883)
Jean III (1883–1887)
Charles XI (1887–1903)
Jacques I (1903–1931)
Charles XII (1931–1936)
Alphonse I (1936–1941)
Henri VI (1941–1975)
Alphonse II (1975–-1989)
Louis XX (1989–present)
Unionist claimants in France
Dates indicate claims, not lifetimes.
Philippe, Comte de Paris (Philippe VII) (1883 – 1894)
Philippe, duc d'Orléans (Philippe VIII) (1894 - 1926)
Jean, Duc de Guise (Jean III) (1926 – 1940)
Henri, Comte de Paris (Henry VI) (1940 – 1999)
Henri, Comte de Paris, Duc de France (Henry VII) (1999 - Present)
Spain
Monarchs of Spain
Dates indicate reigns, not lifetimes.
Philip V (1700–1724 and 1724–1746)
Louis I (1724; ruled less than one year)
Ferdinand VI (1746–1759)
Charles III (1759–1788)
Charles IV (1788–1808)
Ferdinand VII, El Deseado (1813–1833)
Isabella II (1833–1868)
Alfonso XII (1875–1885)
Alfonso XIII (1886–1931)
Juan Carlos I (1975–present)
Carlist claimants in Spain
Dates indicate reigns, not lifetimes.
Carlos V (1833-1845)
Carlos VI (1845-1861)
Juan II (1861-1868)
Carlos VII (1868-1909)
Jaime III (1909-1931)
Alfonso Carlos I (1931-1936)
Xavier I (1936-1952-1977)
Carlos Hugo I (1977-1979)
Sixto Enrique I (1979-present)
Luxembourg
Grand Dukes of Luxembourg
Dates indicate reigns, not lifetimes.
Jean (1964–2000)
Henri (2000–present)
