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Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
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Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (Italian: Ferdinando I; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Ferdinand was born in Naples as the third son of King Charles VII and Queen Maria Amalia. In August 1759, Charles succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand VI of Spain as King Charles III, but treaty provisions made him ineligible to hold all three crowns. On 6 October, he abdicated his Neapolitan and Sicilian titles in favour of his third son, Ferdinand, because his eldest son Philip had been excluded from succession due to intellectual disability and his second son Charles was heir-apparent to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand was the founder of the cadet House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Ferdinand was born in Naples and grew up amidst many of the monuments erected there by his father which can be seen today; the Palaces of Portici, Caserta and Capodimonte.
Ferdinand was his parents' third son; his elder brother Charles was expected to inherit Naples and Sicily. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, he abdicated the thrones of Naples and Sicily in Ferdinand's favour in accordance with the treaties forbidding the union of the two crowns. A regency council presided over by the Tuscan Bernardo Tanucci was set up. Tanucci, an able, ambitious man, wishing to keep the government as much as possible in his own hands, purposely neglected the young king's education, and encouraged him in his love of pleasure, his idleness and his excessive devotion to outdoor sports.
Ferdinand's minority/childhood ended in 1767, and his first act was the expulsion of the Jesuits. The following year he married Archduchess Maria Carolina, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa. By the marriage contract, the queen was to have a voice in the council of state after the birth of her first son, and she was not slow to avail herself of this means of political influence.
Tanucci, who attempted to thwart her, was dismissed in 1777. The Englishman Sir John Acton, who in 1779 was appointed director of marine, won Maria Carolina's favour by supporting her scheme to free Naples from Spanish influence, securing rapprochement with the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Great Britain. He became practically and afterward actually prime minister. Although not a mere grasping adventurer, he was largely responsible for reducing the internal administration of the country to a system of espionage, corruption and cruelty.
Although peace was made with France in 1796, the demands of the French Directory, whose troops occupied Rome, alarmed Ferdinand once more. At his wife's instigation, he took advantage of Napoleon's absence in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria and of Horatio Nelson's victories to go to war. Ferdinand marched with his army against the French and entered Rome (29 November). On the defeat of some of his columns, Ferdinand hurried back to Naples. On the approach of the French, Ferdinand fled on 23 December 1798 aboard Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard to Palermo, leaving his capital in a state of anarchy. The weather was extremely stormy and the king's 6-year-old younger son Prince Alberto died of exhaustion during the voyage, in the arms of Emma, Lady Hamilton, Nelson's mistress.
The French entered the city despite the fierce resistance of the lazzaroni, and with the aid of the nobles and bourgeoisie, established the Parthenopean Republic in January 1799. A few weeks later, when the French troops were recalled to northern Italy, Ferdinand sent a hastily assembled force under Fabrizio Cardinal Ruffo to reconquer the mainland kingdom. Ruffo, with the support of British artillery, the Church, and the pro-Bourbon aristocracy, succeeded in reaching Naples in May 1799, and the Parthenopean Republic collapsed. After some months, King Ferdinand returned to the throne.
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Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (Italian: Ferdinando I; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Ferdinand was born in Naples as the third son of King Charles VII and Queen Maria Amalia. In August 1759, Charles succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand VI of Spain as King Charles III, but treaty provisions made him ineligible to hold all three crowns. On 6 October, he abdicated his Neapolitan and Sicilian titles in favour of his third son, Ferdinand, because his eldest son Philip had been excluded from succession due to intellectual disability and his second son Charles was heir-apparent to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand was the founder of the cadet House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Ferdinand was born in Naples and grew up amidst many of the monuments erected there by his father which can be seen today; the Palaces of Portici, Caserta and Capodimonte.
Ferdinand was his parents' third son; his elder brother Charles was expected to inherit Naples and Sicily. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, he abdicated the thrones of Naples and Sicily in Ferdinand's favour in accordance with the treaties forbidding the union of the two crowns. A regency council presided over by the Tuscan Bernardo Tanucci was set up. Tanucci, an able, ambitious man, wishing to keep the government as much as possible in his own hands, purposely neglected the young king's education, and encouraged him in his love of pleasure, his idleness and his excessive devotion to outdoor sports.
Ferdinand's minority/childhood ended in 1767, and his first act was the expulsion of the Jesuits. The following year he married Archduchess Maria Carolina, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa. By the marriage contract, the queen was to have a voice in the council of state after the birth of her first son, and she was not slow to avail herself of this means of political influence.
Tanucci, who attempted to thwart her, was dismissed in 1777. The Englishman Sir John Acton, who in 1779 was appointed director of marine, won Maria Carolina's favour by supporting her scheme to free Naples from Spanish influence, securing rapprochement with the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Great Britain. He became practically and afterward actually prime minister. Although not a mere grasping adventurer, he was largely responsible for reducing the internal administration of the country to a system of espionage, corruption and cruelty.
Although peace was made with France in 1796, the demands of the French Directory, whose troops occupied Rome, alarmed Ferdinand once more. At his wife's instigation, he took advantage of Napoleon's absence in the French campaign in Egypt and Syria and of Horatio Nelson's victories to go to war. Ferdinand marched with his army against the French and entered Rome (29 November). On the defeat of some of his columns, Ferdinand hurried back to Naples. On the approach of the French, Ferdinand fled on 23 December 1798 aboard Nelson's ship HMS Vanguard to Palermo, leaving his capital in a state of anarchy. The weather was extremely stormy and the king's 6-year-old younger son Prince Alberto died of exhaustion during the voyage, in the arms of Emma, Lady Hamilton, Nelson's mistress.
The French entered the city despite the fierce resistance of the lazzaroni, and with the aid of the nobles and bourgeoisie, established the Parthenopean Republic in January 1799. A few weeks later, when the French troops were recalled to northern Italy, Ferdinand sent a hastily assembled force under Fabrizio Cardinal Ruffo to reconquer the mainland kingdom. Ruffo, with the support of British artillery, the Church, and the pro-Bourbon aristocracy, succeeded in reaching Naples in May 1799, and the Parthenopean Republic collapsed. After some months, King Ferdinand returned to the throne.
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