BOURBON (b5r-bon'), an ancient French family which has given three dynasties to Europe, the Bourbons of France, Spain, and Naples. The first of the line known in history is ADHE MAR, who, at the beginning of the 10th century, was Lord of the Bourbonnais (now the department of Allier). The power and possessions of the family in creased steadily through a long series of Archambaulds of Bourbon, till, in 1272, BEATRIX, daughter of Agnes of Bourbon and John of Burgundy, married Robert, sixth son of Louis IX. of France, and thus connected the Bourbons with the royal line of the Capets. Their son, Louts, had the barony converted into a dukedom and became the first Duc de Bourbon. Two branches took their or igin from the two sons of this Louis, Duke of Bourbon, who died in 1341. The elder line was that of the Dukes of Bour bon, which became extinct at the death of the Constable of Bourbon in 1527, in the assault on the city of Rome. The younger was that of the Counts of La Marche, afterward Counts and Dukes of Vendome. From these descended AN THONY of Bourbon, Duke of Vendome, who, by marriage, acquired the kingdom of Navarre, and whose son, HENRY of Navarre, became Henry IV. of France. Anthony's younger brother, Louis, Prince of Conde, was the founder of the line of Conde. There were, there fore, two chief branches of the Bour bons—the royal, and that of Conde. The royal branch was divided by the two sons of Louis the elder of whom, Louis XIV., continued the chief branch, while PHILIP, the younger son, founded the House of Orleans as the first Duke of that name. The kings of the elder French royal line of the House of Bour bon run in this way: HENRY IV., Louis XIII., XIV., XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., and CHARLES X. The last sov ereigns of this line, Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., and CHARLES X. (LOUIS XVII., son of Louis XVI., never obtained the crown), were brothers, all of them be ing grandsons of Louis XV. Louis XVIII. had no children, but Charles X. had two sons, viz., Louis ANTOINE DE BOURBON, Duke of Angoulerne, who was Dauphin till the Revolution of 1830, and died without issue in 1844, and CHARLES FERDINAND, Duke of Berry, who died, Feb. 14, 1820, of a wound given him by
a political fanatic. The Duke of Berry had two children, (1) LOUISE MARIE THERESE, called Mademoiselle d'Artois; and (2) HENRI CHARLES FERDINAND MARIE DIEUDONNE, born in 1820, and at first called Duke of Bordeaux, but after ward Count de Chambord, who was looked upon by his party until his death (in 1883) as the legitimate heir to the crown of France.
The branch of the Bourbons known as the House of Orleans was raised to the throne of France by the Revolution of 1830, and deprived of it by that of 1848. It derives its origin from Duke PHILIP I. of Orleans (died 1701), second son of Louis XIII., and only brother of Louis XIV. A regular succession of princes leads up to the notorious EGALITE OR LEANS, who, in 1793, died on the scaffold, and whose son, Louis PHILIPPE was King of France from 1830 to the Revo lution of 1848. His grandson, Louis PHILIPPE, Count de Paris, born Aug. 24, 1838, died in London, Sept. 8, 1894. His on ROBERT, Duke of Orleans, born in 1869, is the present head of the family, and the last male representative of the elder Bourbons, who unites in himself the claims of both branches to the throne of France.
The Spanish-Bourbon dynasty orig inated when, in 1700, Louis XIV. placed his grandson, PHILIP, Duke of Anjou, on the Spanish throne, who became Philip V. of Spain. From him descends AL PHONSO XIII., born in 1886.
The royal line of Naples, or the Two Sicilies, took its rise, when, in 1735, DON CARLOS, the younger son of Philip V. of Spain, obtained the crown of Sicily and Naples (then attached to the Spanish monarchy), and reigned as Charles III. In 1759, however, he succeeded his brother, FERDINAND VI., on the Spanish throne, when he transferred the Two Sicilies to his third son, FERDINANDO (Ferdinand IV.), on the express con dition that this crown should not be again united with Spain. Ferdinand IV. had to leave Naples in 1806; but, after the fall of Napoleon, he again became King of both Sicilies under the title of Ferdinand I., and the succession re mained to his descendants till 1860, when Naples was incorporated into the new kingdom of Italy.