County of Guastalla | |||||||||
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1406–1621 | |||||||||
Coat of arms under the Torelli family | |||||||||
Capital | Guastalla | ||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||
Government | County | ||||||||
Count | |||||||||
• 1406–1449 | Guido Torelli (first) | ||||||||
• 1575–1621 | Ferrante II Gonzaga (last) | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Created for the Torelli family | 1406 | ||||||||
1456 | |||||||||
1539 | |||||||||
• Reacquired Montechiarugolo | 1612 | ||||||||
2 July 1621 | |||||||||
Currency | Guastalla lira | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Today part of | Italy |
The County of Guastalla was a feudal state in northern Italy, centered on Guastalla. The title of count was created in 1406 for Guido Torelli.
The Torelli family ruled Guastalla until 1539. The final ruler, Countess Ludovica Torelli, inherited it as a young woman over her illegitimate older brother, sold her rights to the county to Ferrante Gonzaga for 22,000 ducats. [1] [2] Another branch of the Torelli family held the County of Montechiarugolo, which was created in 1456 from a split in the County of Guastalla, until 1612.
Ferrante Gonzaga's descendants ruled Guastalla until 1746, being raised to the title of duke in 1621 when the territory became the Duchy of Guastalla. The last Gonzaga duke, Giuseppe Gonzaga, died heirless in 1746, at which point the territory was briefly incorporated into Austrian Lombardy.
With the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, Guastalla was ceded to the Duke of Parma.
The House of Gonzaga is an Italian princely family that ruled Mantua in Lombardy, northern Italy from 1328 to 1708. They also ruled Monferrato in Piedmont and Nevers in France, as well as many other lesser fiefs throughout Europe. The family includes a saint, twelve cardinals and fourteen bishops. Two Gonzaga descendants became empresses of the Holy Roman Empire, and one became queen of Poland.
The Duke of Parma and Piacenza was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy. It was created by Pope Paul III for his son Pier Luigi Farnese. It existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859.
The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was an Italian state created in 1545 and located in northern Italy, in the current region of Emilia-Romagna.
Guastalla is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Emilia in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
The Duchy of Mantua was a duchy in Lombardy, northern Italy. Its first duke was Federico II Gonzaga, member of the House of Gonzaga that ruled Mantua since 1328. The following year, the Duchy also acquired the March of Montferrat, thanks to the marriage between Gonzaga and Margaret Paleologa, Marchioness of Montferrat.
Ferrante I Gonzaga was an Italian condottiero, a member of the House of Gonzaga and the founder of the branch of the Gonzaga of Guastalla.
The County of Montechiarugolo was a small sovereign state of northern Italy which existed from 1456 to 1612. It included the other fief of Casei.
Emilia is a historical region of northern Italy, which approximately corresponds to the western and the north-eastern portions of the modern region of Emilia-Romagna, with the area of Romagna forming the remainder of the modern region.
The House of Bourbon-Parma is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, whose members once ruled as King of Etruria and as Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Guastalla, and Lucca. The House descended from the French Capetian dynasty in male line. Its name of Bourbon-Parma comes from the main name (Bourbon) and the other (Parma) from the title of Duke of Parma. The title was held by the Spanish Bourbons, as the founder Philip, Duke of Parma was the great-grandson of Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma. The House of Bourbon-Parma is today the Sovereign House of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (agnatically) and all members of the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg are members of the House of Bourbon-Parma with the title of "Princes/Princesses" and the predicate of Royal Highness.
Ferrante II Gonzaga was count and, from 1621, duke of Guastalla.
Ferrante III Gonzaga, was a Duke of Guastalla.
The Duchy of Guastalla was an Italian state which existed between 1621 and 1748. It was bordered by the Duchy of Modena and Reggio and the Po River to the north, on the opposite bank of the Duchy of Mantua.
Giuseppe Gonzaga was the last reigning Duke of Guastalla and a member of the House of Gonzaga.
Ludovica Torelli was ruling Countess of Guastalla in 1522–1539. A philanthropist, she was instrumental in the founding of two religious institutes for woman: the Angelic Sisters of Saint Paul and the "Collegio della Guastalla"/"Daughters of Mary".
Andrea Gonzaga, Count of San Paolo, was a member of the Italian House of Gonzaga, belonging to the cadet branch which ruled the Duchy of Guastalla.
The grand title of the emperor of Austria was the official list of the crowns, titles, and dignities which the emperors of Austria carried from the foundation of the empire in 1804 until the end of the monarchy in 1918.
Guido Torelli was a condottiero. Through his military campaigns and diplomatic skills, he achieved the title of the first Count of Guastalla and Montechiarugolo.