House of Montferrat

House of Montferrat
Parent house	House of Gonzaga
Country	Piedmont
Founded	1753
Titles	King of Piedmont Prince of Montferrat Marquis of Turin Count of Asti

The House of Montferrat (Italian: Casa di Monferrato), also Gonzaga-Montferrat, is the royal family of Piedmont. They have been continiously ruling since 1753 with the exception of the Great War period, where it was occupied by France. The House was founded by Andrea I during the Great Silesian War as an offshoot of the Gonzaga dynasty, its name inspired by their maternal ancestors, the extinct 16th-century Palaeologus-Montferrat family. From 1753 to 1815, the Montferrats ruled as Princes of Piedmont, after which they were elevated to the title of King of Piedmont. The current monarch of Piedmont and head of the Montferrat dynasty is Alfonso II of Piedmont, who has been reigning since 1966.

In the 17th century, the Montferrats' ancestor house, the Gonzaga dynasty, spawned one Queen of Poland and two Holy Roman Empresses, elevating it to continental fame. In 1713, the two main branches of the family were united with the marriage of Margherita Enrica to Joseph I of Guastalla. During the Great Silesian War, their firstborn son and undisputed heir Andrea I established himself as the Habsburg-backed monarch of the new state of Piedmont in 1753. His direct descendants comprise the modern royal family of Piedmont.

Reflective of its equally tumultuous past, the monarchy faced communard insurrections and putsches in 1891, 1924, and 1935, the latter of which successfully deposed the monarchy and ruled Piedmont under the auspices of Camille Laframboise for four years until 1939. The re-establishment of peace in Europe after the Congress of Amsterdam saw stability restored to Piedmont with the Montferrat dynasty assuming a defined role as constitutional, limited monarchs accountable to the Piedmontese Parliament. Today, the royal family and their relatives are seen as great patrons of Italian culture and boast one of the largest publicly available collections of pre-revolutionary French artifacts in Europe.

History

Charles III, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (r. 1665–1711).

Emerging from a war fought over the Mantuan succession, the two main branches of the Gonzaga family, Nevers and Guastalla, found themselves still rivals in the mid-17th century. The Nevers branch, holding the ducal titles of Montferrat and Mantua, sided with the Bourbons of France. The Dukes of Guastalla, on the other hand, had aligned themselves with Habsburg Spain. At the same time, Eleonora Gonzaga-Nevers was reigning Holy Roman Empress, elevating the Gonzaga family to continental levels of fame. In 1659, Charles II of the Nevers branch sold the material ducal title of Nevers to Cardinal Mazarin, the de facto Regent of France.

In 1672, Charles III, the new Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, married the heiress of the Guastalla dukedom, Anna Isabella, in an attempt to unite the two branches. Upon the death of Ferrante III, the reigning Duke of Guastalla in 1678, Charles III was awarded the Duchy by the Holy Roman Emperor and the Aulic Council through the influence of the Empress. The Spanish, irritated by the Gonzaga-Nevers' advances, propped up Vincent of Guastalla, the husband of Charles III's cousin Maria Victoria, as the rightful ruler of Guastalla. In 1692, Vincent of Guastalla succesfully claimed the ducal title, removing Charles III from the Duchy entirely. The same year, the faithful yet childless wife of Charles III, Anna Isabella, suddenly passed away.

Andrea I was the founder of the House of Montferrat.

Anxious for an heir, Charles III wed the Duke of Orléans's youngest daughter, Christine Charlotte, in 1694. The next year, they gave birth to a daughter, Margherita Enrica. Despite trying for a son, Charles III's rampant adultery presumably transferred a venereal disease to Christine Charlotte, rendering her infertile. In 1711, prior to his daughter's coming-of-age, Charles III died. Thereafter, Duchess consort Christine Charlotte took responsibility for arranging her daughter's marriage. To her late husband's chagrin, she arranged the marriage of Margherita Enrica to the reigning and fifth Duke of Guastalla, Joseph I in 1713. This marriage united the two most powerful branches of the Gonzaga family and provided an unambiguous line of succession with the birth of Prince Andrea, the future Andrea I, in 1716.

At the outset of the Great Silesian War in 1750, France occupied Mantua, Montferrat, and Guastalla, fearing that members of the Gonzaga family would side with the Habsburgs. A Habsburg counter-offensive originating from Austria freed the Gonzaga duchies in January 1753. Austrian–Gonzaga forces would dedicate the remainder of the year to capturing the cities of Turin and Casale from the French–Savoyard coalition. At age 37, Andrea I was declared the Prince of Piedmont, and in 1755, he had finally established firm control over the entire Piedmont, including Montferrat. However, this came at the expense of the duchies of Mantua and Guastalla, which were conclusively lost to the Bourbon Duchy of Milan and the sovereign Duchy of Modena and Reggio, respectively.

In 1856, the son of King Alexander Ferdinand, Prince Frederick-Louis, traveled to colonial Ireland to serve in an anti-Schomberg insurrection against the British government on the basis of his seventh-generation maternal descent from Charles I of England. His revolutionary activities and subsequent prosecution stained the international image of the House of Montferrat. From 1857, the new Piedmontese monarch William I suppressed all mention of the dynasty's ties to the United Kingdom, New France, or any other extant monarchy. In 1860, the coat of arms were officially changed to reflect this monumentous decision.

Monarchs of Piedmont

• 1753–1769: Andrea I
• 1769–1806: Andrea II
• 1806–1839: Alexander Ferdinand
• 1839–1857: William I
• 1857–1895: William II
• 1895–1912: William III
• 1912–1966: Alfonso I
• 1966–present: Alfonso II

Family tree

House of Montferrat

Francis II Marquis of Mantua r. 1484–1519 Charles II Duke of Mantua and Montferrat r. 1637–1665 Ferrante III Duke of Guastalla r. 1632–1678 Charles III Duke of Mantua and Montferrat r. 1665–1711 Christine Charlotte Duchess consort of Mantua and Montferrat r. 1694–1711 Maria Victoria Duchess consort of Guastalla r. 1692–1710 Vincent I Duke of Guastalla r. 1692–1712 Margherita Enrica Duchess consort of Mantua, Montferrat, and Guastalla r. 1713–1753 Joseph I Duke of Mantua, Montferrat, and Guastalla r. 1712–1753 Andrea I Prince of Piedmont r. 1753–1769