FARNESE, FAMILY. - Its origins are not well known. It seems to have taken its name, between the 11th and 12th centuries, from its fief of Castrum Farneti. Until the 15th century the F. were minor feudal lords in the service of various cities, and particularly of Viterbo and Orvieto.
The oldest document concerning them attests that in 1154 PRUDENZIO F. received, as representative of Orvieto, Pope Adrian IV. PIETRO defended that city against Henry VI, another PIETRO went to the aid of Florence when it was threatened by Henry VII. Guido was bishop of Orvieto in 1302, and in 1309 consecrated its Cathedral. During the schism the F. remained faithful to the legitimate popes; but although favored by them, they preserved their status of nobles of the contado, who had their possessions in the area of Lake Bolsena. With RANUCCIO the Elder (d. around 1460), the F. moved to Rome. Ranuccio was made senator in 1417, and from Martin V and from Eugene IV he received benefices and vicariates (Montalto, Latera, Canino). With Ranuccio's sons the F. entered the Roman aristocracy: GABRIELE married Isabella Orsini, and PIER LUIGI married Giovannella Caetani of Sermoneta. A son of Gabriele, RANUCCIO, died in the battle of Fornovo; from Pier Luigi were born BARTOLOMEO, who gave origin to the branch of the F. of Latera (which died out in 1668); GIULIA, married to Orsino Orsini, famous for her beauty and for the rumor of her love affairs with Alexander VI (her daughter LAURA married Niccolò della Rovere, nephew of Julius II); ALESSANDRO, who was pope PAUL III (v.). The latter, before taking the Orsini, had had several natural children, for whom he obtained legitimation from Julius II and from Leo X: PAOLO and RANUCCIO, who died at a young age, COSTANZA and PIER LUIGI. PIER LUIGI (d. in 1547), after having served in the imperial army, with which he took part in the Sack of Rome, was by Paul III, in 1557, appointed gonfalonier of the Church; he received from him Castro and Ronciglione, and in 1545 the lordship of Parma and Piacenza erected into a duchy. Since this concession was made without the consent of Charles V, then at odds with the Pope over the questions of the council, a conspiracy hatched by the nobles of Piacenza against the new duke found the viceroy of Milan complicit. Pier Luigi was killed, Piacenza occupied in the name of the Emperor, and Parma handed over to a representative of the Pope.
From Pier Luigi were born: VITTORIA, who became the wife of Guidobaldo della Rovere, duke of Urbino; ALESSANDRO (d. 1589), archbishop of Parma and cardinal, who in Rome built the Gesù, the Farnesina and the villa on the Palatine; RANUCCIO (d. 1565), archbishop of Naples and cardinal, celebrated for his vast culture and unblemished morals; ORAZIO (d. 1553), duke of Castro and prefect of Rome, who married Diana, natural daughter of Henry II, fought for France against Charles V and died in the defense of Hesdin; OTTAVIO (d. 1584), who succeeded his father in the ducal title. Julius III, having reconciled with Charles V, in 1550 had Parma restored to Ottavio; but the following year, the Pope having shown himself inclined to consent to the Spanish occupation of Parma and Piacenza, Ottavio allied himself with France. Spain and the Pope made war on the duke, but in 1552 a truce was concluded, and after the peace the possession of Parma was recognized to the duke. Later (in 1557) Ottavio also regained Piacenza from Philip II. Ottavio's son, ALESSANDRO (b. 1545, d. 1592) was in the service of the king of Spain. He fought at St. Quentin and at Lepanto. Appointed governor of Flanders, he succeeded by his skill in breaking the "Union of Ghent": since the southern provinces, Catholic, had risen only in defense of their autonomies that Philip II had wished to abolish, Alessandro restored the privileges they had enjoyed under Charles V; thus Spain, if she lost the northern provinces, secured definitively the dominion of the southern ones. Alessandro crowned his work with the reconquest of Antwerp (on Alessandro F. the fundamental work is: L. Van Der Essen, Alexandre Farnèse prince de Parme gouverneur général des Pays-Bas, 4 vols., Brussels 1933-35).
From Maria of Burgundy, granddaughter of the king of Portugal, he had: EDOARDO (d. 1626), bishop of Tusculum and cardinal; MARGHERITA, who became the wife of Vincenzo I Gonzaga and, repudiated, became a nun; RANUCCIO I (d. 1622), who succeeded him in the duchy. From Ranuccio and from Margherita Aldobrandini, niece of Clement VIII, were born: MARIA, who was the wife of Francesco I of Modena; VITTORIA, who at her sister's death married her brother-in-law; FRANCESCO (d. 1647), cardinal; and EDOARDO (d. 1646), who succeeded his father on the throne. In the 17th century the F. had no more than a secondary importance in Italian politics. Nevertheless Edoardo nurtured ambitious designs of expansion. In the war for the succession of Mantua he sided with Spain; he fought against the Barberini and against Urban VIII the so-called war of Castro, in which he lost this castle, which was however later restored to him. From Margherita, daughter of Cosimo II de' Medici, Edoardo had: ALESSANDRO (d. 1687), who served Venice under Francesco Morosini, and RANUCCIO II (d. 1694), his successor in the duchy. Ranuccio renewed the struggle against the Barberini, protected by Innocent X: in 1648 Castro was taken by the papal militias and destroyed. Ranuccio married Margherita of Savoy, then Isabella d'Este and finally Maria, Isabella's sister. From Margherita he had: EDOARDO (d. 1693); FRANCESCO (d. 1727), who married Dorothea of Neuburg, widow of Edoardo; ANTONIO (d. 1731). Edoardo's daughter, ELISABETTA (v.), was given in marriage to Philip V, king of Spain. Since neither Francesco nor Antonio had children, card. Alberoni, who had arranged that marriage, if he did not succeed in his attempt to restore Spanish dominion in Italy, nevertheless obtained that the quadruple alliance, by the treaty of The Hague, assign the duchy of Parma and Piacenza to don Carlos, son of Philip V and of Elisabeth F. After the War of the Polish Succession the duchy was given to Austria, but by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle it passed to Elisabeth's other son, Philip. - See pl. LXXI.
Bibliography6 works
Roberto Palmarocchi