Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
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The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Regno delle Due Sicilie) commonly known as just the Two Sicilies, that is a translation of the latin term Utriusquae Siciliae since Alfonso V of Aragon, [1] was the name of a kingdom in Europe. The most common definition of the kingdom's extent is that it was a uniting of two much older kingdoms in the Mediterranean who had shared some common history, in the form of the Kingdom of Naples, on the southern part of the Italian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Sicily, located on the island of Sicily. The capital city of the kingdom was Naples.
Technically, the kingdom was established in the Edict of Bayonne in 1808, under Bonapartist king Joachim Murat; he was officially titled "King of the two Sicilies", despite the fact that physically he only controlled the kingdom commonly known as Naples.[2][3] It was put into actual practice by Spanish Bourbon king Ferdinand I in 1816, uniting the two much older kingdoms he owned, established with the aid of a concordat with the Papal States who had previously feudal rights on the land.[4]
The French Revolutionary invasion of the Kingdom of Naples, had seen that area under two Bonapartist Kings of Naples for around a decade. After the mainland kingdom was won back for the Bourbons during the Neapolitan War thanks to their allies Austria, Tuscany and the United Kingdom, Ferdinand agreed to unite his two historic kingdoms at the Congress of Vienna as a matter of necessity and an act of solidarity.
Although the origins of the two kingdoms are ancient, in its united Two Sicilies form it existed from 1816 until 1860. There had been some rebellions on the island of Sicily against the Bourbon king Ferdinand II which would lead to the Expedition of the Thousand a decade later. The invasion by the Savoy's Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia led by Garibaldi eventually saw the Italian unification in 1860: deposing Francis II and dissolving the Kingdom of Two Sicilies in highly controversial circumstances.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The origins of the geographical area which would later become the Two Sicilies, existing as one single kingdom including peninsula and insular, in fact goes back to ancient times. It was the Norman king Roger II of Sicily who united his territories of the County of Sicily with the southern part of the Italian Peninsula (then known as the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria) to form the Kingdom of Sicily, this incidentally also included the Maltese Islands. The capital of this kingdom was Palermo, based on the actual island of Sicily, the two entities existed in a united form from 1130 until 1285.
The Angevin king Charles I was the last to rule over both parts of the geographical area before the original split.[5] The split was caused by the War of the Sicilian Vespers where Charles who was ultimately of French origin, was forced to keep only the peninsula part of the Kingdom of Sicily, after the Aragonese who were ultimately Catalan had conquered the island of Sicily with support from the natives.[5] Charles' peninsula kingdom was informally called the Kingdom of Naples, however officially he never gave up the "Kingdom of Sicily" name despite the fact that after the Vespers, his kingdom no longer included the island of Sicily itself: thus there were two "Sicilies".[5]
[edit] Aragonese and Spanish direct rule
It wasn't until the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302, a mutual recongnition of each others' legitamacy under guidance of Pope Boniface VIII, that the island of Sicily's kingdom became known in an official context as the "Kingdom of Trinacria".[5] Eventually by 1442 the Angevin line of Kings of Naples was coming to an end, Alfonso V of Aragon who was the King of Sicily in terms of the island itself via direct rule from the Crown of Aragon, conquered Naples and became king of both.
Alfonso described the geographical area in Latin as Utriusque Siciliae, which is along the lines of "Both Sicilies", this is the title he used.[6] After the death of Alfonso, both remained under direct rule from the Crown of Aragon, but Naples had a different Aragonese king to the island of Sicily from 1458 until 1501. For a brief period Naples was controlled by a different power than Sicily, in the form of French king Louis XII of France who took the mainland kingdom and held it for around three years. After the Battle of Garigliano led by last Aragonese king Ferdinand II of Aragon however, the two areas were once again under control of the same power and the exact same king.
From 1516 when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor became the first King of Spain, both Naples and Sicily were under direct Spanish rule. It was during this era that, after four hundred years as part of the Kingdom of Sicily; Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor decided to "give" the islands of Malta and Gozo to the Knights Hospitaller. The period of direct Spanish rule, under the same line of kings lasted until 1713 for the kingdoms, notably Philip V of Spain was the first Bourbon to control them both. Briefly interrupted by an eight year spell of Savoy rule of Sicily, the two kingdoms fell under the same king after the Treaty of The Hague, as Austrian king Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor was named ruler.
[edit] Uniting of the Crowns
The kingdoms were conquered by a young Bourbon prince called Charles VII of Naples during the War of the Polish Succession. The two kingdoms were recongised as both independent and under Charles' rule as a cadet branch of the Spanish Bourbons by the Treaty of Vienna.[7] After Charles inherited the Spanish Crown in 1759, his son Ferdinand became king of the two kingdoms, he was highly popular with the lazzaroni class. Ferdinand's reign was highly eventful, for a brief period the Parthenopaean Republic was instated in Naples by French Revolution supporters: a counter-revolutionary army of lazzaroni retook Naples for the Bourbons.[8]
However only eight years later, during the Napoleonic era, Napoleon conquered the peninsula part of the kingdom during the War of the Third Coalition and instated his Bonapartist brother Joseph Bonaparte as king.[9] Ferdinand was forced to flee out to his other kingdom, on the island of Sicily itself; here the alliance he had previously made with the United Kingdom's king George III and Tory Prime Minister the Earl of Liverpool saved him, the British protected Ferdinand and the island of Sicily from Napoleonic conquest with a powerful Royal Navy fleet presence.[10]
Meanwhile, back on the mainland Joachim Murat had become the second Bonapartist king, in the Edict of Bayonne he was technically named as the first "King of the Two Sicilies",[2] though in physical practice he never actually held the island of Sicily where Ferdinand was and is usually reffered to as just a King of Naples.[11] Murat had actually switched sides for a while, abandoning La Grande Armée after the disastrous Battle of Leipzig in an attempt to save his Neapolitan throne. However, as the Congress of Vienna progressed tensions arose as there was strong pressure to restore Ferdinand to the Neapolitan kingdom as well as keeping his Sicilian one.[9] Murat returned to Napoleon and together they declared war on Austria, leading to the Neapolitan War in March 1815. Ferdinand and his allies Austria, Britain and Tuscany were victorious, restoring him to his Neapolitan throne. To avoid further French attempts, it was agreed at the Congress of Vienna that Ferdinand would unite his two kingdoms for solidarity; becoming the first actual King of the Two Sicilies to control both parts of his united kingdom.[9]
[edit] Bourbon nation
[edit] Invasion by Sardinia
Between 1816 and 1848 the island of Sicily experienced no less than three popular revolts against Bourbon rule, including the revolution of independence of 1848, when the island was fully independent of Bourbon control for 16 months.
Apart from having occurred at an interesting point in European history (see Revolutions of 1848), there is a clear link between this revolution and the more well known historical event that was to occur 11 years hence (the Risorgimento).
[edit] Geography
[edit] Provinces
On the Italian Peninsula there were twelve provinces of the Two Sicilies, the capital city of Naples was hosted in Terra di Lavoro. The island of Sicily itself had a special administrative status with its base at Palermo (the "second city" of the kingdom), viewed as different and at a more prestigious standing than just a standard, much smaller Peninsula provinces.
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[edit] Monarchy
[edit] Kings of the Two Sicilies
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In 1860–1861 the kingdom was conquered by the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the title dropped. It is still claimed by the head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
[edit] Titles of King of the Two Sicilies
Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies, of Jerusalem, etc, Duke of Parma, Piacenza, Castro, etc, Hereditary Grand Prince of Tuscany, etc
[edit] House of Bourbon Two Sicilies in exile
Some Sovereigns continued to maintain diplomatic relations with the exiled Court, including the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Bavaria, Württemberg and Hanover, the Queen of Spain, the Emperor of Russia, and the Papacy.
[edit] Heads of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies, 1861–present
- 1861-1894: Francis II
- 1894-1934: Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta
- 1934-1960: Prince Ferdinando Pius, Duke of Noto, later, Duke of Calabria
- 1960-1964: Disputed between Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro and Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria
- 1964-1966: Disputed between Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro and Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
- 1966-2008: Disputed between Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Castro and Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
- 2008-present: Disputed between Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro and Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
Upon Ferdinando Pio's death in 1960, there was a dispute about who inherited the headship of the house. Ferdinando's next brother Carlo had, in anticipation of his marriage to the eldest sister and heiress presumptive of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, signed the so-called Act of Cannes on 14 December 1900:
...Here present is His Royal Highness Prince Don Carlo our dearest loved Son and he has declared that he shall be entering into marriage with Her Royal Highness the Infanta Doña Maria Mercedes, Princess of the Asturias, and assuming by that marriage the nationality and quality of Spanish Prince, intends to renounce, and by this present act solemnly renounces for Himself and for his Heirs and Successors to any right and rights to the eventual succession to the Crown of the Two Sicilies and to all the Properties of the Royal House found in Italy and elsewhere and this according to our laws, constitutions and customs of the Family and in execution of the Pragmatic Decree of King Charles III, Our August ancestor, of the 6th October 1759, to whose prescriptions he declares freely and explicitly to subscribe to and obey.[12]
The laws of the deposed Sicilian dynasty and Spain's Pragmatic Decree, however, required a renunciation only in very limited circumstances: the actual union of the Crown of the Two Sicilies in the person of the King of Spain or his heir apparent, which had not happened in 1900 nor did it occur subsequently. Furthermore, this act was signed subsequent to the agreement by marriage contract between the Count of Caserta (the father of prince Carlo, then head of the Royal House in exile), and the Queen Regent of Spain, which specifically excluded the need for a dynastic renunciation to the non-existent throne. Prince Carlo was created an Infante of Spain, a title held by several other princes of the Two Sicilies in the past, but with his wife's death and the birth of a Prince of Asturias (and three other sons) to the King and Queen of Spain, the possibility of him becoming king consort and his son becoming both King of Spain and pretender to the Two Sicilies, receded. All the descendants of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies by his wife, Infanta Isabel, already enjoyed a right to the Spanish throne by virtue of the royal constitutions of 1837, 1845 and 1876.
[edit] Calabria line
Prince Carlo's son, Infante Don Alfonso, became the senior male of the house on the death of his uncle, Ferdinando Pio, Duke of Calabria, in 1960 and was proclaimed Head of the Royal House of the Two Sicilies, with the recognition of the Heads of the royal houses of Spain, Parma and Portugal, and the senior line (Bourbon) pretender to the throne of France. Prince Carlo and his descendants continued to be included as Princes of the Two Sicilies in the Almanach de Gotha from 1901-1944, and in the Libro d'Oro of the Italian Nobility from the first edition in 1907 until 1964, at which time the editor came out in support of the cadet line claimant. Infante Don Alfonso took the title of Duke of Calabria, considering that the title of Duke of Castro (a Farnese inheritance) had been lost with the sale of the last portions of the duchy to the Italian government in 1941 (a sale from which Prince Carlo received his portion of the proceeds, along with his brothers and sisters, although if the alleged renunciation of 1900 had been valid he would not have been entitled to do so). Prince Carlo married as his second wife, in 1907, Princess Louise of Orléans, and by her had a son (Carlos, killed in the Spanish Civil War) and three daughters (of whom Princess Maria Mercedes married Juan, Count of Barcelona and was the mother of King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and Princess Esperanza married Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza). The descent in the senior line is as follows:
- 1960-1964: Alfonso, Duke of Calabria, Infante of Spain (married in 1936 to Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma, born 1917, daughter of Elias, Duke of Parma)
- 1964-present: Carlos, Duke of Calabria, Infante of Spain since 1994 (married in 1965 to Princess Anne of Orléans, daughter of the late Count and Countess of Paris)
The latter's immediate heir is Pedro, Duke of Noto, married to D. Sofia de Landaluce y Melgarejo (a descendant through her mother of the Dukes of San Fernando de Quiroga).
Most of the rest of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies family rejected Alfonso's claims, however, and recognized Ranieri, the next surviving brother of Ferdinando Pio, as head of the house. Ranieri took the style of "Duke of Castro" as his title of pretence. The representatives of the junior branch are as follows:
- 1960-1966: Prince Ranieri, Duke of Castro (Died 1973), married to Countess Carolina Zamoyska (whose mother was a Bourbon-Sicily princess).
- 1966-2008: Prince Ferdinand Maria, Duke of Castro, who had one son and two daughters, including Princess Beatrice, the former wife of Prince Charles Napoléon.
- 2008-present: Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
They also claim the office of the Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George.
[edit] Current lines of succession
To Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro:
- Prince Antoine of the Two Sicilies (born 1929), married to Duchess Elizabeth of Wurttemberg
- Prince François of the Two Sicilies (born 1960), married to Countess Alexandra of Schönborn-Wiesentheid
- Prince Antoine of the Two Sicilies (born 2003)
- Prince Gennaro of the Two Sicilies (born 1966)
- Prince Casimir of the Two Sicilies (born 1938)
- Prince Louis of the Two Sicilies (born 1970) married to Christine Apovian
- Prince Alexander of the Two Sicilies (born 1974), a Catholic Priest
To Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
- Prince Pedro, Duke of Noto married to D. Sofia de Landaluce y Melgarejo
- Prince Carlo of the Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro (born 1963), married to Camilla Crociani
- Prince Antoine of the Two Sicilies (born 1929), married to Duchess Elizabeth of Wurttemberg
- Prince François of the Two Sicilies (born 1960), married to Countess Alexandra of Schönborn-Wiesentheid
- Prince Antoine of the Two Sicilies (born 2003)
- Prince Gennaro of the Two Sicilies (born 1966)
- Prince Casimir of the Two Sicilies (born 1938)
- Prince Louis of the Two Sicilies (born 1970) married to Christine Apovian
- Prince Alexander of the Two Sicilies (born 1974), a Catholic Priest
[edit] Flags of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
 First Two Sicilies' flag (1811-1815) returning Hauteville's coat of arms colors. |
 1815-1848; 1849-1860 flag[13] |
 1848-49 flag |
 1860-61 flag |
[edit] Orders of knighthood
- Order of St. Januarius
- Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
- Order of Saint George and Reunion
- Order of Saint Ferdinand and Merit
- Royal Order of Francis I
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Swinburne, Henry. Travels in the Two Sicilies (1790). British Library. In this book the term represent a geografical expression, at a time when the kingdom of the Two Sicilies wasn't a country yet.
- ^ a b Colletta, Pietro. History of the Kingdom of Naples (1858). University of Michigan.
- ^ "The Battle of Tolentino > Joachim Murat", Tolentino815.it, 7 October 2007.
- ^ Blanch, L. Luigi de' Medici come uomo di stato e amministratore. Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane.
- ^ a b c d "Sicilian History", Dieli.net, 7 October 2007.
- ^ "Alfonso V, or Alfonso el Magnánimo", Britannica.com, 7 October 2007.
- ^ "Charles of Bourbon - the restorer of the Kingdom of Naples", RealCasaDiBorbone.it, 7 October 2007.
- ^ "The Parthenopean Republic", Faculty.ed.umuc.edu, 7 October 2007.
- ^ a b c "Austria Naples - Neapolitan War 1815", Onwar.com, 7 October 2007.
- ^ "Ferdinand IV King of Naples and Sicily (Ferdinand I as King of the Two Sicilies)", RealCasaDiBorbone.it, 7 October 2007.
- ^ "Joachim Murat,", Emeliefr.club.fr, 7 October 2007.
- ^ Sainty, Guy Stair. ChivalricOrders.org. The Two Sicilies Succession. Guy Stair Sainty. Retrieved on 2000-October-10.
- ^ This flag was also adopted by Kingdom of Naples since 1738
[edit] External links
Some cultural websites about the history of Naples and Sicily:
[edit] Cultural
- Brigantino - Il portale del Sud - A massive Italian-language site dedicated to History, Culture and Arts of southern Italy. (Italian)
- Casa Editoriale Il Giglio - An Italian publisher that focuses its production upon history, culture and the arts in the Two Sicilies. (Italian)
- Bookshop Neapolis - The website of a bookshop, located in the heart of the historical center of Naples, specialized in History and Culture of Naples and Southern Italy (mainly in Italian). (Italian) / (English)
- La Voce di Megaride - A website dedicated to Napoli and Southern Italy, by Marina Salvadore. (Italian)
- Associazione culturale "Amici di Angelo Manna" - A website dedicated to the work of volcanic Angelo Manna, historian, poet, deputy. (Italian)
- Fora! The e-journal of Nicola Zitara - Large amount of articles about Southern Italy's Culture and History by prof. Nicola Zitara. (Italian)
- Regalis Italian dynastic history, with sections on the House of the Two Sicilies. (English)
[edit] Neo-Bourbon
- Associazione culturale neoborbonica - Southern Italian "neo-Bourbonist" site, making a case for a positive view of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Mostly in Italian, some pages in English. (Italian) / (English)
- Edoardo Spagnuolo website - A websites with many historical documents about the rebellions against invasion in 1860, with particular interest in the region of Irpinia. (Italian)
The headship of the house is in dispute between two branches of the family::
[edit] Royal house
- The Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Head HRH Don Ferdinando Maria, Duke of Castro (Italian) / (English) / (French) / (Spanish)
- The Royal House of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Head HRH Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria (Italian) / (English)
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