Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma

1751 – 1802 · Generation XVII · Duke of Parma (r. 1765–1802)

Ferdinand (1751 – 1802). Duke of Parma (r. 1765–1802). Married Maria Amalia in 1769. Husband of Maria Amalia. A Bourbon of Parma and a grandson in the male line of Philip V of Spain — and reputedly the favourite grandson of his other grandfather, Louis XV of France — he was created an infante of Spain on his father’s death. He curbed the church’s hold on his duchy — the Jesuits were driven out, the Inquisition lost its jurisdiction there, and superfluous religious houses were closed — reforms that have earned him a modest rank among the era’s enlightened rulers. Napoleon’s era undid him: by the Treaty of Aranjuez he ceded Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to France, while his son Louis received Tuscany as the new Kingdom of Etruria. He died at fifty-one amid suspicions of poison, naming on his deathbed a regency under his wife in defiance of the treaty.

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Partners

• Married Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (1746 – 1804) in 1769

Life

• 1751 — Born
• 1769 — Married Maria Amalia
• 1802 — Died