ferdinand iv governed the kingdom of naples and sicily at the beginning of 1815.
ferdinand iv governed the kingdom of naples and sicily at the beginning of 1815.
who governed the kingdom of naples and sicily at the beginning of 1815?
ferdinand iv
in 1808 joachim murat, husband of napoleon's sister caroline, was granted the crown of naples by the emperor after joseph had reluctantly accepted the throne of spain. murat joined napoleon in the disastrous campaign of 1812 and, as napoleon's downfall unfolded, increasingly sought to save his own kingdom. opening communications with the austrians and british, murat signed a treaty with the austrians on january 11, 1814 in which, in return for renouncing his claims to sicily and providing military support to the allies in the war against his former emperor, austria would guarantee his continued possession of naples. marching his troops north, murat's neapolitans joined the austrians against napoleon's stepson, eugene de beauharnais, viceroy of the kingdom of italy. after initially opening secret communications with eugene to explore his options of switching sides again, murat finally committed to the allied side and attacked piacenza. upon napoleon's abdication on 11 april 1814 and eugene's armistice, murat returned to naples, however his new allies trusted him little and he became convinced that they were about to depose him. upon napoleon's return in 1815, murat struck out from rimini at the austrian forces in northern italy, in what he considered a pre-emptive attack. the powers at the congress of vienna assumed he was in concert with napoleon, but this was in fact the opposite of the truth, as napoleon was then seeking to secure recognition of his return to france through promises of peace, not war. on 2 april murat entered bologna without a fight, but soon he was in headlong retreat as the austrians crossed the po at occhiobello and his neapolitan forces disintegrated at the first sign of a skirmish. murat withdrew to cesena, then ancona, then tolentino. at the battle of tolentino on 3 may 1815 the neapolitan army was swept aside and, though murat escaped to naples, his position was irrecoverable and he soon continued his flight, leaving naples for france. ferdinand iv & vi was soon restored and the napoleonic kingdom came to an end. the congress of vienna confirmed ferdinand in possession of both his ancient kingdoms, naples and sicily, but under the new unified title of king of the two sicilies, which would survive until 1861.
kingdom of naples (napoleonic)
frederick was an effective ruler for the first decade and sicily was more prosperous than it had been in decades. still, robert of naples was bitter that the angevins had lost sicily from his kingdom. the roman curia had refused robert's request in 1302 for a crusade against sicily. southern italy and sicily were considered by the pope to be part of the church's patrimony, second only to the papal state. this alliance between the papacy and robert of naples was strong because of this. it was further strengthened in 1308 when pope clement v moved the papacy to avignon. robert had strong connections with powerful people in france, so moving the papacy to avignon only strengthened relations. with the constant threat from naples, frederick allied sicily with the ghibelline league in 1310. he saw this as an opportunity to protect sicily from the angevins, as the italian expedition by emperor henry vii in 1310-1313 helped to increase ghibelline power in northern and central italy. robert of naples was becoming frustrated with the sicilian situation and renewed war in 1313. henry's unexpected death in 1313 increased robert's resolve. in 1315, frederick of austria hoped to marry his sister catherine to frederick's son peter. instead, robert, hoping to interrupt an imperial-sicilian alliance, married catherine to his son charles. during this time, the angevins and frederick's brother james of aragon tried to convince the king of sicily to trade his kingdom in exchange for achaea and albania. frederick declined this request, but robert of naples continued this dialogue in 1316-1317, even offering the western half of sicily along with the lands previously offered. frederick wanted no part of these other lands and pope john xxii established a truce between these feuding kingdoms in 1317. however, robert remained bitter, and in 1320 war broke out between the angevins and the sicilians.
elizabeth of carinthia, queen of sicily