FAMILY PACT. - It is the political alliance concluded between the dynasties belonging to the House of Bourbon, reigning in the 18th century in France, Spain, Naples and Parma. Such a bond had already been desired for France and Spain since the beginning of the century by Louis XIV, obtaining from Charles II of Habsburg the testament in favor of his grandson Philip.
The first diplomatic act of this policy was the pact stipulated on 28 Oct. 1743 at Fontainebleau between the two kings Louis XV and Philip V, with the aim of procuring for France, then at war with the Habsburgs of Austria, the support of Spanish arms; to this end many promises were made on the French side: conquest of Lombardy, adding to it a principality for Philip of Bourbon, son of Philip V; guarantee for the other son Charles of the possession of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily; reconquest of the two English possessions of Gibraltar and Minorca, to be restored to Spain; the latter would be released at the peace from the commercial servitudes assumed in 1719 toward England in America. England, however, sought to wreck the Family Compact with a separate peace with the government of Madrid. At the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748, after negotiations in which it was Louis XV who tried to evade the commitments of Fontainebleau, it was established that Philip of Bourbon would have the Farnese domains of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla with the right of succession to his brother at Naples; the political and economic situation of Spain remained unchanged. The Family Compact was preserved, but without effect; during the Seven Years' War Spain remained on the sidelines. Only in 1761 did Choiseul, minister of Louis XV, succeed in renewing with the new king Charles III, assisted by Grimaldi, a new pact that included the four Bourbon dynasties. Grimaldi consented so that Spain would not remain isolated and exposed to English military and economic offensive. The conclusion of the Pact (15 Aug. 1761) was the rupture of the Anglo-French negotiations and the resumption of hostilities: on 3 Jan. 1762 war was declared by the government of Madrid on that of London. The war, however, ended with the Peace of Paris of 10 Febr. 1763: Spain lost Florida and received Louisiana from France in exchange; England abandoned its monopoly rights in the Spanish colonial empire.
The Family Compact continued to dominate French and Spanish foreign policy, regarded as a necessity in the face of English expansion: Choiseul calculated that through the Pact he would arrive at the economic union of the two nations, at the renewal of Spain, at the development of French exports in the Spanish colonies. England saw in the Pact the danger of the union of the largest colonial country with the country most ready for industrial development; while on the continent the Franco-Austrian alliance guaranteed peace and made it impossible for England to find allies against the two enemy powers. The Family Compact, on the other hand, guaranteed the two Bourbon houses of Naples and Parma against any Austrian and English hostility. The Family Compact also functioned in the struggle between England and the rebellious colonies of America: the government of Versailles, after the alliance stipulated on 6 Febr. 1778 with the English colonies, dragged along with it that of Madrid, which on 12 Apr. 1779 stipulated the Convention of Aranjuez in the hope of recovering Gibraltar, Minorca and Florida.
The Treaty of Versailles of 1783 marked the failure of the Franco-Spanish aspirations, but the Family Compact survived
It survived; still in May 1790, faced with English threats, Spain invoked France's help in the name of the pact. The Constituent Assembly, on 26 Aug. 1792, declared the old dynastic alliance without value, while saying it was ready to renew the alliance with Spain.
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Francesco Cognasso