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Ferdinand I
Portrait by Johan Zoffany, 1779
Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla
Reign	18 July 1765 – 9 October 1802
Predecessor	Philip
Successors	Jean-Jacques-Régis (Parma) Charles-François (Piacenza) Pauline (Guastalla)
Born	(1751-01-20)20 January 1751 Parma, Duchy of Parma
Died	9 October 1802(1802-10-09) (aged 51) Fontevivo, Duchy of Parma
Burial	Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata
Spouse	Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria
Issue	Carolina, Princess Maximilian of Saxony Louis I, King of Etruria Princess Maria Antonia Princess Maria Carlotta Prince Philip Maria Princess Antonietta Luisa Princess Maria Luisa
Names Italian: Ferdinando Maria Filippo Lodovico Sebastiano Francesco Giacomo di Borbone French: Ferdinand-Marie-Philippe-Louis-Sébastien-François-Jacques de Bourbon
House	Bourbon-Parma
Father	Philip, Duke of Parma
Mother	Louise Élisabeth of France
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Ferdinand I (Ferdinando Maria Filippo Lodovico Sebastiano Francesco Giacomo; 20 January 1751 – 9 October 1802) was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla from his father's death on 18 July 1765 until he ceded the duchy to France by the Treaty of Aranjuez on 20 March 1801. He was a member of the Spanish House of Bourbon.

Early life

Born at the Ducal Palace of Colorno as the second child and only son of Philip, Duke of Parma and Princess Louise Élisabeth of France, he was considered to be the favorite grandson of his maternal grandfather King Louis XV of France and his popular wife Queen Marie Leczinska. As a grandson in the male line of King Philip V of Spain, he was created an infante of Spain upon his father's death. As the heir to one of the largest collection of sovereign duchies, Ferdinand was an attractive candidate for many royal ladies of Europe.

Possible candidates included Princess Maria Beatrice Ricciarda of Modena, daughter of Ercole III d'Este and (like Ferdinand) an in law of Marie Antoinette. She was, through her mother, heiress to the Duchy of Massa and Carrara, but despite being the last descendant of the Este, she was not also the heiress to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio due to the Salic law that was in force there. Ferdinand's marriage to Princess Maria Beatrice, however, was probably little more than a wishful thinking of Parma's minister, Guillaume du Tillot, considering that she had been engaged from early childhood to the third-born heir of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Another candidate was Louise Marie Thérèse Bathilde d'Orléans who offered a very large dowry; she was the only surviving daughter of Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans and the sister of Philippe Égalité.

The decision of who his future spouse would be was sealed by his mother's close correspondence with the powerful Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, who had promised Ferdinand's parents the throne of the Netherlands, which had been returned to Austrian rule under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. This never occurred and, as a result, an alliance with the Austrian Empire was used to cement the two nations.

At the age of nine, Ferdinand began taking harpsichord lessons with the composer Giuseppe Colla.

Reign

Guillaume du Tillot was again used during Ferdinand's reign when he lost his father in 1765 at age 14. Negotiations and ideas were passed from Vienna to Parma, and in 1769 Ferdinand was to marry Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria; the eighth child of the Empress and elder sister of the Queen of Naples and Sicily and the future Queen of France. Maria Amalia had a marriage by proxy in Vienna on 27 June and left her home on 1 July. The future duchess would meet her husband at Mantua on 16 July. His wife was with her brother Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand with members of the Sforza family. On 19 July there was a formal ceremony for all at the Ducal Palace of Colorno where Ferdinand had been born. During many festivities, the couple made their official entrance to Parma on 24 July. They had nine children in just under twenty years.

Expelling the Jesuits, abolishing the jurisdiction of the Inquisition within his domains, and suppressing many redundant monasteries, Ferdinand has sometimes been classed among the more minor exponents of Enlightened absolutism.

Ferdinand ceded the Duchy of Parma to France in the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801). The Treaty of Aranjuez was signed on 21 March 1801 between France and Spain. The overall accord confirmed the terms presented in the Treaty of San Ildefonso. Moreover, Ferdinand agreed to surrender the Duchy of Parma (with Piacenza and Guastalla) to France. Ferdinand's son Louis received the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which became the Kingdom of Etruria. Ferdinand III, the Habsburg Grand Duke of Tuscany, was compensated with the secularized territories of the Archbishop of Salzburg.

He died in Parma at age 51, suspected to be poisoned although French authorities cited another reason for his death, and was buried in the church of Fontevivo Abbey. On his deathbed, however, he named a regency council with his wife Maria Amalia as its head, clearly still opposing the terms of the Treaty of Aranjuez regarding his duchy. The regency lasted only for days and the Duchy of Parma was annexed to France.

Issue

Ferdinand and his wife Maria Amalia had nine children:

1. Princess Carolina (22 November 1770 – 1 March 1804); married in 1792 to Maximilian, Crown Prince of Saxony and had eight children.
2. Prince Louis (5 July 1773 – 27 May 1803); married in 1795 to his cousin, Princess Maria Luisa of Spain, and they had two children. Louis became the first King of Etruria.
3. Princess Maria Antonia (28 November 1774 – 20 February 1841); she was engaged to a prince of the House of Savoy but he died and she became a Ursuline nun in 1803 with the name of Sister Luisa Maria.
4. Princess Maria Carlotta (1 September 1777 – 6 April 1813); she became a Dominican nun in 1797 with the name of Sister Giacinta Domenica.
5. Prince Philip Maria (22 May 1783 – 2 July 1786); died at the age of three years due to scurvy.
6. Princess Maria Antonietta Luisa (21 October 1784 – 22 October 1785); died at the age of one year due to smallpox.
7. Princess Maria Luisa (17 April 1787 – 22 November 1789); died at the age of two due to pleurisy.
8. Stillborn son and daughter (21 May 1789).

Ancestry

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1. At first Archduke Leopold of Austria, later on his younger brother Archduke Ferdinand, following the change in the internal order of Habsburg-Lorraine succession that had resulted from the sudden death of another older brother.
2. Sven Hansell; Rebecca Green (2001). "Colla, Giuseppe". Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.06099.
3. Carrai, Guido (2018). Maria Amalia, duchessa di Parma e Piacenza 1746-1804. ISBN 978-80-270-3974-6.
4. Carrai, Guido (2018). Maria Amalia, duchessa di Parma e Piacenza 1746-1804. ISBN 978-80-270-3974-6.
5. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
6. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
7. Botti, Ferruccio. La Principessa Maria Antonia di Borbone suora orsolina.
8. Botti, Ferruccio. La Principessa Maria Antonia di Borbone suora orsolina.
9. Spiazzi, Raimondo (1993). Cronache e fioretti del monastero di San Sisto all'Appia.
10. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
11. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
12. ^ Justin C. Vovk: In Destiny's Hands: Five Tragic Rulers, Children of Maria Theresa (2010)
13. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
14. Carrai, Guido (2018). Maria Amalia, duchessa di Parma e Piacenza 1746-1804. ISBN 978-80-270-3974-6.
15. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
16. Carrai, Guido (2018). Maria Amalia, duchessa di Parma e Piacenza 1746-1804. ISBN 978-80-270-3974-6.
17. Stanga, Idelfonso (1932). Maria Amalia di Borbone duchessa di Parma 1746-1804.
18. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 96.

v t e Dukes of Parma
Pier Luigi (1545–47) Ottavio (1556–86) Alexander (1586–92) Ranuccio I (1592–1622) Odoardo (1622–46) Ranuccio II (1646–94) Francesco (1694–1727) Antonio (1727–31) Charles I (1731–35) Charles II (1735–40) Maria Theresa (1740–48) Philip (1748–65) Ferdinand (1765–1802) Cambacérès (Parma) (1808-1814) Lebrun (Piacenza) (1808-1814) Marie Louise (1814–47) Charles Louis (1847–49) Charles III (1849–54) Robert I (1854–1859)
Held in pretence, no implied sovereignty: Robert* (1859–1907) Henry* (1907–39) Joseph* (1939–50) Elias* (1950–59) Robert II* (1959–74) Xavier* (1974–77) Carlos Hugo* (1977–2010) Carlos* (2010–present)
* denotes titular Duke

• 1751 births
• 1802 deaths
• 18th-century dukes of Parma
• 19th-century dukes of Parma
• House of Bourbon-Parma
• Princes of Bourbon-Parma
• Dukes of Guastalla
• Princes of Parma and Piacenza
• Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain
• Burials at the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Steccata