The
following newsletter is part one of a two part series that we will do on the
House of Bourbon which
is one of Europe's most important royal house.
HOUSE OF BOURBON
The House
of Bourbon is an important European royal house. 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 and southern Italy; other Bourbons held important
duchies. Spain currently has a Bourbon monarch.
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 Bourbon-Orléans, then ruled for 18 years
(1830–1848), until it too was overthrown.
Philip V of Spain was the first Bourbon ruler of Spain, from 1700. The Spanish
Bourbons—nowadays, in Spain the name is spelt Borbón—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. The
declared heiress and thrice-regent of the now-defunct Empire of Brazil married
twenty years before their deposition a prince of Bourbon-Orleans, and their
descent, known as the Orleans-Braganza, would have ascended that throne, had
the empire not been ended in 1888. In 1919 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 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.
ORIGIN
OF THE HOUSE & THE RISE OF HENRY IV
The House of Bourbon as a noble family dates 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. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King
Louis IX of France married Beatrice of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon.
Their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. The senior line of his heirs
was dispossessed of the dukedom in 1523, due to the treason of Duke Charles
III, but the junior line of La Marche-Vendôme acquired the Dukedom of Vendôme.
The Bourbon-Vendôme branch became the ruling house of first the tiny remnant
of the Kingdom of Navarre on the northern side of the Pyrenees (1555) and then
of France (1589), with Henry III of Navarre becoming Henry IV of France.
The first Bourbon king of France was Henry IV. He was born on December 13, 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, 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 August 24 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 Duke
of Anjou, younger brother of King Henry III, 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 July
31, 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, the Cardinal de
Bourbon, as king as Charles X, and the civil war continued. Henry won the crucial
victory at Ivry on March 14, 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 devoutly Catholic Paris, or to ultimately defeat
his enemies, now supported by the Spanish. He reconverted to Catholicism in
1593—he is said to have remarked, "Paris is worth a mass"—and was crowned King
of France at the Cathedral of Chartres on February 27, 1594.
EARLY
BOURBON KINGS OF FRANCE
Henry granted the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 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 May 14, 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, Henry 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 April 26 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 May 11, 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 September 5, 1638, whom he named after himself.
When Louis XIV succeeded his father he was only five 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 March 9, 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 though some territory was gained
it hardly seemed worth it. 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 October 18, 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 September 1, 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 February 15, 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,
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 May 10, 1774.
EARLY BOURBON 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 November 1, 1700 a Grand
Alliance of European nations united against Philip. In the Treaty of Utrecht
signed on April 11, 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 August 2, 1718 to stop
him. In the Treaty of The Hague signed on February 17, 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 uncle and
king of France. Their son Charles, duke of Parma since 1731, invaded Naples.
At the conclusion of peace on November 13, 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 mists 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 August 15,
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.