 |
A Decisive Kingdom (1734-1759)
Charles of Bourbon |
We usually consider Charles as the first King of Naples from the Bourbon family. He was the great restorer of the Kingdom, but, as we saw above, the first king of that dynasty who reigned over the South of Italy was his father Philip V when he ascended the Throne of Madrid in 1700. During the events of the long War for the Spanish Succession, then, Philip -although winner of the war and for this reason real king of Spain - lost the viceroyalty of Naples and Sicily in favour of the Austrian Hapsburgs, who kept it until 1734, the year when Charles of Bourbon - son of Philip V and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese - conquered the Neapolitan viceroyalty with the diplomatic help of his mother, became its king in every respect and restored the autonomy of the Kingdom of Naples by making it an independent and sovereign state. |
To this matter, the historian Angelantonio Spagnoletti wrote: «When in 1734 don Charles of Bourbon, son of Philip V king of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese, succeeded in coming to Naples and expelling the Austrians who had ruled it since 1707, everybody immediately understood that his conquest did not forebear a return of the Spanish rule over the South of Italy. In fact, although he maintained strong relations with Madrid especially at the beginning, he affirmed an independent political state, which, as such, was acknowledged by the Vienna Peace Treaty in 1738 (…) After more than two centuries of foreign rule (first Spain and than Austria for about 27 years), a new independent state appeared in the Italian political scenario» .
Charles was born as elder son of a second marriage on 20 January 1716. By birth, on his mother side - Elisabeth Farnese’s father was the son of a lady of Medici - he already was a pretender to an Italian principality including the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza and possibly also the Medici dominions in case of dying out of the direct branch (as it started to appear).
Only by overcoming a series of obstacles did Elisabeth cleverly succeed in guaranteeing her son the Duchy in 1732, under the tutelage of his grandmother, the widow Duchess of Parma. In the meanwhile, the previous year Charles declared himself "great Crown Prince" of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, since the dying out of the Medici family was then sure and Giangastone, the last Grand Duke still alive, was appointed as his co-tutor.
When the War to the Polish Succession began, Charles’ future changed. In fact Elisabeth put him at the head of an army in Italy and sent him to conquer the Kingdom of Naples ruled by the Hapsburgs since 1707.
On 20 January 1734 Charles declared himself of full age - therefore out of any tutelage - and marched from Florence to Naples. In Monterotondo he addressed the Neapolitans a proclamation of Philip V supporting the enterprise: on 10 May he entered in triumph in Naples. Five days after he received from Madrid a deed of Philip V by which the latter transferred all royal rights of the conquered Kingdom to his son.
Charles, availing himself of his rights, definitively defeated the Austrian at Bitonto, conquered Sicily and on 2 January 1735 adopted the title of King with no number: in July he was crowned King of Sicily in Palermo and on 12 July he came back to Naples.
However, the young king was in a phase of his life in which he was still influenced by the policy of his powerful parents who in 1737 chose the daughter of the King of Poland, Maria Amalia, as his wife.
The end of the War for the Polish Succession in 1738 involved as consequence the Hapsburg conquest of the Farnese’s Duchy of Tuscany (the Grand Duchy was definitively taken by the Hapsburg-Lorraine), whereas, by the Peace of Aachen, the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was given to Charles’ younger brother, Philip, who started the Bourbon-Parma family.
In Naples, Charles ruled with the help of a State Council formed by ministers chosen by his parents and therefore influenced from Madrid (among them we mention the Earl of Santostefano, the Marquis of Montealegre, Tanucci, Brancaccio).
|
