Ranuccio II, Duke of Parma

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Ranuccio II Farnese.

Ranuccio II Farnese (September 17, 1630 — December 11, 1694) was the sixth Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1646 until his death nearly 50 years later.

[edit] Biography

He was born the eldest son of Odoardo Farnese, fifth Duke of Parma, and Margherita de Medici. After his father's death, he was for two years under the regency of his uncle, Francesco Maria Farnese, and his mother.

Ranuccio II was married three times; first to Marguerite of Savoy (1635-63) in 1660, second to Isabella of Modena (1635-66) in 1664, and in 1668 to Maria of Modena, (1644-84).

During Odoardo's reign the decling Duchy had been involved in the Wars of Castro, connected to a Farnese fief in the Papal States, north to Rome, which the powerful Pope Urban VIII's family, the Barberini, was eager to acquire.

In 1649, Urban's successor, Innocent X, accused Ranuccio II of murdering Cardinal Cristoforo Giarda, who was on his way to the city of Castro (of which he had been named bishop) at the time of his death. In retaliation, forces loyal to the Pope besieged the Farnese city for two months, and then razed it to the ground. In the August the Parmense troops had been crushed not far from Bologna, and Ranuccio remained with no means to gain back its fief, despites his attempts to buy it back through money.

In his last days of reign, the Duchy suffered heavily for the presence of Imperial troops, who were fighting in the dispute between Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and France.