Prince Filippo I Orsini
Duke of Gravina
Filippo Orsini. Date of birth: 10 December 1842. Place of birth: Rome, Italy. Death: 16 March 1924 (81), Rome, Italy. Don Filippo was 18th Duke of Gravina, 9th Prince of Solofra, 6th Prince of Vallata, 5th Prince of Roccagorga, Prince of the S.R.I., Count Palatine, Roman Prince, Assistant Prince to the Papal Throne, Count of Muro Lucano, Roman Patrician Conscript, Neapolitan Patrician, Genoese Patrician, Venetian Patrician, Patrician of Ancona, Nobleman of Corneto, Honorary Nobleman of Forlì and Grandee of Spain first class. Married in Vienna 17-X-1865 Giulia Countess Hoyos-Wenckheim, daughter of Count Henry and Felicia Countess Zichy de Zich et Vasonykeö (* Vienna 11-X-1847 + Rome 19-VII-1909).
The Truppe Reali Parmensi meant the armed force of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. It was a land army, without a military fleet, because the nation was landlocked. It had tasks of defence, but also of maintaining public order. Born with the creation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, in 1545, they participated in all the conflicts of the peninsula in the 16th century. They were formed during the Italian War of 1542-1546, and fought alongside the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire. On June 11, 1859, during the Second Italian War of Independence, near Gualtieri, in the territory of the neighboring Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the Parma Royal Troops were dissolved by the oath of allegiance to the Duchess regent. They were integrated into the Royal Sardinian Army. Composed of cavalry and infantry specialties, it did not provide for a fleet, but only a few amphibious departments for fighting near the rivers. Towards the end of his activity there were units of cavalleggeri, carabinieri and lanceri. He was armed with weapons given to him by his allies.
The House of Orsini is an Italian noble family that was one of the most influential princely families in medieval Italy and Renaissance Rome. Members of the Orsini family include five popes: Stephen II (752–757), Paul I (757–767), Celestine III (1191–1198), Nicholas III (1277–1280), and Benedict XIII (1724–1730). The family also included 34 cardinals, numerous condottieri, and other significant political and religious figures. The Orsini are part of the Black nobility who were Roman aristocratic families who supported the Popes in the governance of the Papal States. According to their own family legend, the Orsini are descended from the Julio-Claudian dynasty of ancient Rome. The Orsini carried on a political feud with the Colonna family for centuries in Rome, until it was stopped by Papal Bull in 1511. In 1571, the heads of both families married nieces of Pope Sixtus V as an act of reconciliation. Ironically the Colonna family also claims descent from the Julio-Claudian dynasty of ancient Rome. The Orsini descend from Cajo Orso Orsini who lived c. 600 AD. Five popes are
descended from him: Stephen II, Paul I, Celestine III, Nicholas III and Benedict XIII. Some members used the surname of Bobone-Orsini. One member by the name Bobone, lived during the early 11th century, father of Pietro, who was in turn father of Giacinto Bobone (1110–1198), who in 1191 became pope as Celestine III. One of the first great nepotist popes, he made two of his nephews cardinals and allowed his cousin Giovanni Gaetano (Giangaetano, died 1232) to buy the fiefs of Vicovaro, Licenza, Roccagiovine and Nettuno, which formed the nucleus of the future territorial power of the family. The line of Gravina, from the name of the eponymous city in Apulia, is the only existing line of the Orsini. It descends from Francesco (died 1456), a son of Count Carlo of Bracciano. Most of his fief was located in northern Lazio, but he entered in the Neapolitan orbit when in 1418 he was called by Sergianni Caracciolo to fight against the Angevine troops, which he defeated. By marriage, he obtained the title of Count of Gravina. He was made Duke of Gravina by King Alfonso, a title definitely assigned to his son Giacomo (died 1472), to which had been added the counties of Conversano, Campagna and Copertino. Two of Francesco's sons, Marino (died 1471) and Giovanni Battista (died June 8, 1476), were respectively archbishop of Taranto and Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes. The fourth duke, Francesco, was part of a conspiracy along with his brothers Giulio and Paolo against Cesare Borgia but were found out, and Francesco was strangled to death on 18 January 1503 along with his brother Paolo. One of Francesco's nephews, Flavio Orsini, was created cardinal in 1565. The fifth duke, Ferdinando (died December 6, 1549), had all his fiefs confiscated by the Spaniards, but he regained them after a 40,000 scudi payment. After the heirless death of Duke Michele Antonio (January 26, 1627), his lands passed to his cousin Pietro Orsini, count of Muro Lucano (died 1641). The latter's nephew Pier Francesco, who had renounced the succession in favour of his brother Domenico to become a Dominican, was later elected pope with the name of Benedict XIII. His successor raised Benedict XIII's nephew, Prince Beroaldo Orsini, to the dignity of Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne (title held until 1958), after the emperor Charles VI had already, in 1724, made him a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. The last cardinal from the family was Domenico. This branch of the family moved to Rome in the 18th century, where Duke Domenico (November 23, 1790 – April 28, 1874), married Maria Luisa Torlonia in 1823. In 1850, he was Minister of War and General Lieutenant of the Papal Armies, and also Senator of Rome.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Order of the Golden Spur (Ordine dello Speron d'Oro) and insignia and star of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta).
