PARMA, Before 1S60 a duchy in Northern Italy, lying between Sardinia, Lom bardy, Modena. and Tuscany. The city of Parma was one of the colonies established along the -Emilian Road by the Romans after the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul in B.C. 222. It was included in the Ostrogothic, Lombard. and Frankish king doms, and ultimately in the new German Empire. In the eleventh century it was an appanage of Tuscany. and as such passed to the Countess Matilda, and may have heen included in her donation to the Papacy (1102). Lucebino Visconti, ruler of Milan, bought it from Obizzo d'Este about 1346. It passed, together with Milan, to the Sforza, and in 1499 was included in the conquests of Louis X11. of France. In 1511 Pope Julius II. retook it from the French. In 1315, when Francis I. reconquered the Milanese, he reannexed to it Parma and Piacenza, with the Papal consent; but in 1521 it was retaken by the Papal and Imperial troops. In 1545 Pope Paul III., one of the Roman House of Farnese, separated Parma and Piacenza the Papal domains and erected them into duchies for his natural son, Pietro Luigi Farnese, whose son, Ottavio, married Margaret, natural daugh ter of the Emperor Charles V. Pietro Luigi, after two years of tyranny, was assassinated by his exasperated subjects, and Parma and Pia cenza were seized for the Emperor. Thereupon Paul III. retracted his grant and resumed the Papal claim. His successor, Julius Ill., who owed his election to the Farnese support, restored Parma to Ottavio Farnese. The Emperor re tained Piacenza, and in 1551 sought to take Parma, whereupon Ottavio sought the protection of France. Philip 11., to secure his alliance against France in 1556, when Italy was menaced by a new French invasion, restored to him Pia cenza, though a Spanish garrison remained there. Alessandro Farnese, son of Ottavio, entered the Spanish service and rose high in Philip's favor, and in 1585 the Spanish troops were withdrawn. Duke Ottavio was succeeded in 1586 by Alessan dro, who died in the Netherlanffik in 1592. The latter's son, Ranuecio, succeeded to the duchies under the guaranty of Spain and the Pope. Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Philip V. of Spain, in 1725 secured the reversion of Parma and Pia cenza to her son, Don Carlos, who received them upon the death of the reigning Duke, Antonio, without issue, in 1731. Carlos exchanged them
in 1735 with Austria for the Two Sicilies. In 174S Parma and Piacenza, together with Guastal la, were handed over by Austria to the Spanish Bourbons in the persons of the Infante Don Philip, with a reversion to Austria in ease of failure to him of male descendants, or in ease any of his descendants should ascend the Spanish or Neapolitan throne. In 1765 Philip was suc ceeded by his son, Ferdinand, who expelled the Jesuits in 1768. In 1S01 Bonaparte concluded the Treaty of Madrid with Spain, by the terms of which Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla were to be given to France on the death of Ferdinand, in exchange for which Don Luis, the son of Fer dinand, was made King of Etruria. France came into possession by the death of Ferdinand in the following year. The Treaty of Paris (1814) gave Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla as a duchy to Maria Louisa, Napoleon's wife, and this was carried out, notwithstanding the protest of the King of Spain in behalf of the widow of the King of Etruria. On the death of Maria Louisa in 1847 the duchy reverted to Charles, Duke of Lucca, son of the King of El ruria, who sue ceeded as Charles II. Guastalla was given to Modena, and some small districts to Parma. The rule of Charles was ty rannical and illiberal. On the outbreak of the Revolution in 1848 he was forced to grant the popular de mands, but he soon afterwards left the country. Parma joined Sardinia against Austria. and was involved in the defeat of its ally. In March, 1849, Austria imposed upon Parma the rule of Charles 111., son of Charles 11., who had abdi cated. The arbitrary rule of Charles Ill. was closed by his assassination in 1851, when his widow, Louise Marie Therese de llourbon, as sinned the government in behalf of her son, 1;0in ert 1. She made some attempt at reform, but left the country with her son on the outbreak of the war of 1859. On March IS, ISM, Parma was annexed to Sardinia and became a part of the new fiingdom of Italy by the will of its people. It now forms the two provinces of Parma and Piacenza.