II. The Spanish and Italian Bourbons.
Neapolitan Branch.—The first Bourbon who wore the crown of Naples was Charles III. of Spain, who on his succession to the Spanish throne in 1759, resigned his kingdom of Naples to his son Ferdinand. Ferdinand was deposed by Napoleon, but afterwards regained his throne, and took the title of Ferdinand I., king of the Two Sicilies. In 1825 he was succeeded by his son Francis, who in turn was succeeded in 1830 by his son Ferdinand II. Ferdinand II. died in 1859, and in the following year his successor Francis II. was deprived of his kingdom, which was incorporated into the gradually-uniting Italy.
Duchies of Lucca and Parma.—In 1748 the duchy of Parma was conferred on Philip, youngest son of Philip V. of Spain. He was succeeded by his son Ferdinand in 1765. Parma was ceded to France in 1801, Ferdinand’s son Louis being made king of Etruria, but the French only took possession of the duchy after Ferdinand’s death in 1802. Louis’s son Charles Louis was forced to surrender Etruria to France in 1807, and he was given the duchy of Lucca by the congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1847, on the death of Marie Louise, widow of Napoleon, who had received Parma and Piacenza in accordance with the terms of the treaty of Paris of 1814, Charles Louis succeeded to the duchies as Charles II., at the same time surrendering Lucca to Tuscany. In 1849 he abdicated in favour of his son, Charles III., who married a daughter of the duke of Berry, and was assassinated in 1854, being succeeded by his son Robert. In 1860 the duchies were annexed by Victor Emmanuel to the new kingdom of Italy.
Bastard Branches.—There are numerous bastard branches of the family of Bourbon, the most famous being the Vendôme branch, descended from Caesar, natural son of Henry IV., and the Maine and Toulouse branches, descended from the two natural sons of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan.
See Coiffier de Moret, Histoire du Bourbonnais et des Bourbons (2 vols., 1824); Berand, Histoire des sires et ducs de Bourbon (1835); Désormeaux, Histoire de la maison de Bourbon (5 vols., 1782-1788); Achaintre, Histoire généalogique et chronologique de la maison royale de Bourbon (2 vols., 1825-1826); and Dussieux, Généalogie de la maison de Bourbon (1872).
BOURBON, CHARLES, Duke of (1490-1527), constable of France, second son of Gilbert, count of Montpensier and dauphin of Auvergne, was born on the 17th of February 1490, his mother being a Gonzaga. In 1505 he married Suzanne, heiress of Peter II., duke of Bourbon, by Anne of France, daughter of King Louis XI., and assumed the title of duke of Bourbon. The addition of this duchy to the numerous duchies, countships and other fiefs which he had inherited on the death of his elder brother Louis in 1501, made him at the age of fifteen the wealthiest noble in Europe. He gained his first military experience in the Italian campaigns of Louis XII., taking part in the suppression of the Genoese revolt (1507) and contributing to the victory over the Venetians at Agnadello (May 14, 1509). Shortly after the accession of Francis I. Bourbon received the office of constable of France, and for his brilliant services at the battle of Marignano (September 1515) he was made governor of the Milanese, which he succeeded in defending against an attack of the emperor Maximilian. But dissensions arose between Francis and the constable. Grave, haughty and taciturn, Bourbon was but ill suited to the levities of the court, and his vast wealth and influence kindled in the king a feeling of resentment, if not of fear. The duke was recalled from the government of the Milanese; his official salary and the sums he had borrowed for war expenses remained unpaid; and in the campaign in the Netherlands against the emperor Charles V. the command of the vanguard, one of the most cherished prerogatives of the constables, was taken from him. The death of his wife without surviving issue, on the 28th of April 1521, afforded the mother of the king, Louise of Savoy, a means to gratify her greed, and at the same time to revenge herself on Bourbon, who had slighted her love. A suit was instituted at her instance against the duke in the parlement of Paris, in which Louise, as grand-daughter of Charles, duke of Bourbon (d. 1456), claimed the female and some of the male fiefs of the duchy of Bourbon, while the king claimed those fiefs which were originally appanages, as escheating to the crown, and other claims were put forward. Before the parlement was able to arrive at a decision, Francis handed over to his mother a part of the Bourbon estates, and ordered the remainder to be sequestrated.