Ferdinand I (Italian: Ferdinando I; 12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1816 until his death. Before that he had been, since 1759, King of Naples as Ferdinand IV and King of Sicily as Ferdinand III. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799, and again by a French invasion in 1806, before being restored in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Ferdinand was born in Naples as the third son of King Charles VII and Queen Maria Amalia. In August 1759, Charles succeeded his half-brother Ferdinand VI of Spain as King Charles III, but treaty provisions made him ineligible to hold all three crowns. On 6 October, he abdicated his Neapolitan and Sicilian titles in favour of his third son, Ferdinand, because his eldest son Philip had been excluded from succession due to intellectual disability and his second son Charles was heir-apparent to the Spanish throne. Ferdinand was the founder of the cadet House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Childhood

thumb|left|Ferdinand in 1760, at age nine

Ferdinand was born in Naples and grew up amidst many of the monuments erected there by his father which can be seen today; the Palaces of Portici, Caserta and Capodimonte.

Ferdinand was his parents' third son; his elder brother Charles was expected to inherit Naples and Sicily. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, he abdicated the thrones of Naples and Sicily in Ferdinand's favour in accordance with the treaties forbidding the union of the two crowns. A regency council presided over by the Tuscan Bernardo Tanucci was set up. Tanucci, an able, ambitious man, wishing to keep the government as much as possible in his own hands, purposely neglected the young king's education, and encouraged him in his love of pleasure, his idleness and his excessive devotion to outdoor sports.

The French entered the city despite the fierce resistance of the lazzaroni, and with the aid of the nobles and bourgeoisie, established the Parthenopean Republic in January 1799. A few weeks later, when the French troops were recalled to northern Italy, Ferdinand sent a hastily assembled force under Fabrizio Cardinal Ruffo to reconquer the mainland kingdom. Ruffo, with the support of British artillery, the Church, and the pro-Bourbon aristocracy, succeeded in reaching Naples in May 1799, and the Parthenopean Republic collapsed. and were defeated at Battle of Rieti (7 March 1821). The Austrians entered Naples.

Later years

Following the Austrian victory, the Parliament was dismissed and Ferdinand suppressed the Liberals and Carbonari. The victory was used by Austria to force its grasp over Naples' domestic and foreign policies. Count Charles-Louis de Ficquelmont was appointed as the Austrian ambassador to Naples, practically administering the country as well as managing the occupation and strengthening Austrian influence over Neapolitan elites.

Ferdinand died in Naples on 4 January 1825. He was the last surviving child of Charles III.

Cultural depictions

  • That Hamilton Woman (1941) directed by Alexander Korda, played by Luis Alberni
  • Ferdinando and Carolina (1999) directed by Lina Wertmüller, played by Sergio Assisi, Adriano Pantaleo, and Mario Scaccia at different ages
  • Luisa Sanfelice (2004) directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, played by Emilio Solfrizzi

Issue

{|class="wikitable collapsible" style="min-width:30em; margin:0.4em auto;"

! colspan=5 style="background: #ccddcc;" | Children of Ferdinand I

|-

!Name!!Picture!!Birth!!Death!!Notes

|-

|colspan=4|By Maria Carolina of Austria (Vienna, 13 August 1752 – Vienna, 8 September 1814)

|-

|Maria Teresa Carolina Giuseppina||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 6 June 1772||Hofburg Imperial Palace, 13 April 1807||Named after her maternal grandmother, Maria Theresa of Austria, she married her first cousin Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1790; had issue.

|-

|Maria Luisa Amelia Teresa||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 27 July 1773||Hofburg Imperial Palace, 19 September 1802||Married her first cousin Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany and had issue.

|-

|Carlo Tito Francesco Giuseppe||100px||Caserta Palace, 6 January 1775||Caserta Palace, 17 December 1778||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Maria Anna Giuseppa Antonietta Francesca Gaetana Teresa||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 23 November 1775||Royal Palace of Naples, 22 February 1780||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Francesco Gennaro Giuseppe Saverio Giovanni Battista||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 19 August 1777||Naples, 8 November 1830||Married his cousin Archduchess Maria Clementina of Austria in 1797 and had issue; married another cousin Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain in 1802 and had issue; was King of the Two Sicilies from 1825 to 1830.

|-

|Maria Cristina Teresa||100px||Caserta Palace, 17 January 1779||Savona, 11 March 1849||Married Charles Felix of Sardinia in 1807; had no issue; it was she who ordered the excavations of Tusculum.

|-

|Maria Cristina Amelia|| ||Caserta Palace, 17 January 1779 ||Caserta Palace, 26 February 1783|| Died of smallpox. Died in childhood.

|-

|Gennaro Carlo Francesco||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 12 April 1780||Caserta Palace, 1 January 1789||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Giuseppe Carlo Gennaro||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 18 June 1781||Caserta Palace, 19 February 1783||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Maria Amelia Teresa||100px||Caserta Palace, 26 April 1782||Claremont House, 24 March 1866||Married in 1809 Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, King of the French and had issue.

|-

|Maria Cristina|| ||Caserta Palace, 19 July 1783||Caserta Palace, 19 July 1783||Stillborn.

|-

|Maria Antonietta Teresa Amelia Giovanna Battista Francesca Gaetana Maria Anna Lucia||100px||Caserta Palace, 14 December 1784||Royal Palace of Aranjuez, 21 May 1806||Married her cousin Infante Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias; died from tuberculosis; had no issue.

|-

|Maria Clotilde Teresa Amelia Antonietta Giovanna Battista Anna Gaetana Polcheria|| ||Caserta Palace, 18 February 1786||Naples, 10 September 1792||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Maria Enrichetta Carmela|| ||Naples, 31 July 1787||Naples, 20 September 1792||Died of smallpox.

|-

|Carlo Gennaro|| ||Naples, 26 August 1788||Caserta Palace, 1 February 1789||Died of smallpox. Died aged 5 months.

|-

|Leopoldo Giovanni Giuseppe Michele of Naples||100px||Naples, 2 July 1790||Naples, 10 March 1851||Married his niece Archduchess Clementina of Austria and had issue.

|-

|Alberto Lodovico Maria Filipo Gaetano||100px||Royal Palace of Naples, 2 May 1792||Died on board , 25 December 1798||Died in childhood (died of exhaustion on board HMS Vanguard).

|-

|Maria Isabella||100px||Naples, 2 December 1793||Naples, 23 April 1801||Died in childhood.

|-

|}

Ancestry

Heraldry

<gallery class="center" caption="Heraldry of Ferdinand of Naples, Sicily and the Two Sicilies" widths="125" heights="200">

File:Greater Coat of Arms of Ferdinand IV of Naples.svg|Coat of arms as King of Naples<br/>(1759–1799 / 1799–1806 /1814–1816)

File:Coat of Arms of Ferdinand III of Sicily.svg|Coat of arms as King of Sicily<br/>(1759–1816)