Francesco Farnese reigned as the seventh and penultimate Farnese Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1694 until his death.
Background
Married to Dorothea Sophia of the Palatinate, his brother Odoardo"s widow, to avoid the return of her dowry, Francesco curtailed court expenditure, enormous under his father and predecessor, Ranuccio II, while preventing the occupation of his Duchy of Parma, nominally a Papal fief, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The second son of Ranuccio II Farnese and Maria d"Este of Modena, the Duke, despite the his efforts otherwise, saw Parma declared a fief of the Duchy of Milan, an Austrian province in Italy, towards the end of the war.
Career
The second son of Ranuccio II Farnese and Maria d"Este of Modena, Francesco, born in 1678, ascended to his father"s domain at the age of 17 on 11 December 1694. Ranuccio II left Parma, a small, land-locked northern-Italian duchy of little political significance, saturated in debt, largely thanks to his extravagant court. In 1700, upon the death of Charles II of Spain without an ostensible heir, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out between France and Austria.
Duke Francesco, anxious to keep foreign troops out of his duchy, adopted a policy of neutrality.
Prince Eugene of Savoy occupied parts of the Farnese territories, however. When Francesco complained to Prince Eugene"s employer, the Austrian Emperor Leopold I, of this, the Emperor replied that he would be duly compensated at a later date.
Towards the end of the war, Austria, now ruled by Leopold"s son Joseph I, disregarded its promise of reparations and, as part of a concordat with the church, declared Parma its fief. Francesco, therefore, tried to dissuade Antonio from marrying and perpetuating his line, a plan which worked for the duration of Francesco"s lifetime.
Antonio, though married to Enrichetta d"Este of Modena, died childless in 1731, paving the way for Don Carlos"s accession.
Don Carlos, however, left Parma four years later for the Kingdom of Naples, bringing with him all the Farnese treasures, including the Ducal Palace"s marble staircase. 19 May 1678 – 6 September 1693: His Highness Prince Francesco
6 September 1693 - 11 December 1694: His Highness The Hereditary Prince of Parma
11 December 1694 - 26 May 1727: His Highness The Duke of Parma
Bibliography
Armstrong, Edward (1892). Elisabeth Farnese: "The Termagent of Spain".
Longmans, Green, & Company: New New York
Solari, Giovanna (1968). The House of Farnese: A Portrait of a Great Family of the Renaissance.
Doubleday & Company: New New York Acton, Harold (1956).
The Bourbons of Naples (1734–1825).
Methuen & Company: London.