Ranuce II Farnèse

Ranuce II Farnese (September 17th 1630 - December 11th 1694), was the sixth Duc of Parma and Plaisance of the September 11th 1646 with its death and the seventh Duc of Castro of September 11th, 1646 until in 1649.

Youth and regency

Ranuce was the oldest son of the duke Edouard Ier Farnèse and of Marguerite de Médicis. After the death of his father, in 1646, it controlled, during two years, the duchy under regency of his uncle the cardinal François Marie Farnèse and of his mother and until obtaining its ten eight years. In the attempt to join again an alliance with the Farnèses, the France offered to him the hand of the niece of the cardinal Mazarin. The young girl would have brought one equips with 500.000 ecus, but Ranuce, although the duchy had an important need for money, did not even take into account the proposal because the young girl was not princely row.
Il succeeds in remaining neutral in the fight between France and the Spain, but it was obliged to authorize the passage of the troops which caused important damage with the local populations.

The loss of Castro

During the reign of Edouard 1ier, the duchy had been engaged in the first war of Castro, caused by Urbain VIII and which had emptied the cases of the duchy. In 1649, Innocent X, the successor of Urbain showed Ranuce to be the agent of the homicide of the bishop barnabite Cristoforo Giarda. The second war of Castro originated in this episode. The pontifical troops besieged the town of Castro and entirely shaved it. During this time, the duke gathered an army whose commander was entrusted to Jacopo Gaufrido which was beaten near Bologna. Gaufrido flees, but the conditions of peaces required by the pope included the lawsuit of Gaufrido. Decree and condemned, Gaufrido was carried out the January 8th 1650 and the duchy of Castro was confiscated. In 1657, the duke was to buy Castro, but it did not have the nap necessary, therefore the pope Alexandre VII decided the final confiscation. Two years after, in 1659, with the Peace of the Pyrenees between France and Spain, the duke succeeds in adding a clause which gave him eight years additional to acquire the duchy. The duke sought to gather the money by all the possible ways and in 1666, it sent to Rome one of its agents, Giulio Platoni, with the sum of 814.865 ecus gold and silver, but the persons in charge of the apostolic Chambre refused the payment. Ranuce had to be resigned to the loss of the antique possession of family.

Last years

The duke had his large sum refused by the Church, and in 1672, it decided to acquire Gianandrea Doria Landi the Principauté of Bardi and Compiano, at the price of 120.714 ducats. With this acquisition, the duchy obtained its final form.

During the war between France and the Duke of Savoy Victor-Amédée II, which had adhered to the Ligue of Auguste who rested on the imperial ones taken along by the prince Eugene of Savoy the duchy of Parma was invades by the imperial troops which plundered it. In 1691, four thousand soldiers, with women and children, joined the duchy of Parma; not only their maintenance fell on the local population, but flights, abuses and violences followed one another unceasingly.

In 1693, Edouard, wire and heir to Ranuce, which had married only three years before Dorothée Sophie de Neubourg, died. From their union had been born: Alexandre, died in eight month and Elisabeth.

The duke died the night of December 11th, 1694, extremely probably because of his obesity.

Marriages and descents

Ranuce II Farnèse married the April 29th 1660 Marguerite Violating of Savoy (November 15th 1635 - April 29th 1663), the girl of the duke Victor Amédé I, which left widowed hardly three years after their marriage, dead two days after the birth of their second wire, the child died the same day. The first wire had died the very same day of its birth.

In second wedding, Ranuce marries the February 18th 1664 his/her cousin Isabelle d' Este (October 3rd 1635 - August 21st 1666), girl of François I of Este, duke of Modena, with which it had three children. She also died of puerperality. From this union were born Marguerite Marie Farnèse (November 24th 1664 - June 17th 1718), who will marry the July 14th 1692 François II of Este (1660 - 1694), duke of Modena, Therese Farnèse (October 10th 1665) and Edouard II Farnèse (1666 - 1693), heir supposed to the duchy of Parma and Plaisance which died before his/her father.

In October 1668, Ranuce marries in third wedding Marie d' Este (December 8th 1644 - August 20th 1684), the sister of his second wife. With it, it had many children, only two reached the adulthood:

François Farnèse (1678 - 1727), duke of Parma and Plaisance in 1694
Antoine Farnèse (1679 - 1731), in 1727 last duke of Parma and Plaisance of the Farnèse family.

Assessment of the reign

The duke carried out many actions to improve the living conditions of his subjects but disproportion between the life of the extremely extravagant court and the contents of the cases of the Treasury was considerable. To maintain all the characters who surrounded the court of Parma, the duke was obliged to tax each thing while however avoiding touching with the goods of the clergy.

To fight unemployment, it prohibits the export of not worked silk and in 1648, it organized a congregation to be able to proceed to the collecting and the distribution of the grain and flour. It created the office of the general Visitor, a kind of judge of call and made so that the lawsuits were held quickly, envisaging very severe sorrows for the robbers, the vagrants and the forgers. Among the other things, it reformed the rural tax on land of Plaisance (1647); it provided for the compensation for the damages caused by the overflow with the Po in 1654; it created the public records of Parma and Plaisance (1678), it made measure the territory of the duchy.

Within the cultural framework, it dealt with improving the university and the College of noble in which it created the Academy of Selected (Accademia degli Scelti). In the Benedictine abbey, it created the Academy of High (Accademia degli Elevati). The duke was impassioned of music and it was surrounded by famous singers, dancers and musicians. In 1688, it inaugurated the new Ducal Theater. During all its reign, it acquired many tables and invaluable books and it brought to Parma most of works belonging to the family collection preserved in the Roman residences.

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