Antonio I Boncompagni

Don Antonio I Boncompagni, who assumed the surname Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Isola del Liri or Isola di Sora, 10 April 1658 – Isola del Liri or Isola di Sora, 28 January 1731), was an Italian nobleman and the 6th Duke of Sora, Aquino, Arce and Arpino and 7th Marquess of Vignola. By his marriage, he also was Prince Heir of Piombino, Marquis of Populonia, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, Lord di Scarlino, Populonia, Vignale, Abbadia del Fango, Suvereto, Buriano, Cerboli e Palmaiolan, and Lord prince of the Tuscan Archipelago including the islands of Elba, Montecristo, Pianosa, Gorgona, Capraia, and Isola del Giglio.

Biography

He was the fourth son of Don Ugo I Boncompagni, 4th Duke of Sora, Aquino, Arce and Arpino and 5th Marquess of Vignola, and wife Duchess Donna Maria Ruffo di Bagnara.

He grew up in the shadow of his three elder brothers, and was not expected to succeed his father.

But when his eldest brother Don Gregorio only had daughters, and the two other brothers became clerics, it was decided in 1701 that Antonio would marry his brother's eldest daughter Donna Maria Eleonora, to succeed his brother.

Antonio and Maria Eleonora married on 29 March 1702 and had five children:

Donna Maria Olimpia Boncompagni-Ludovisi (29 March 1703 - 1705)
Don Niccolò Boncompagni-Ludovisi (9 March 1704 - 1709)
Donna Francesca Cecilia Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Isola del Liri, 29 March 1705 - Naples, 4 July 1775), married in Isola del Liri on 24 May 1722 Don Francesco Maria Carafa, 5th Prince of Belvedere (15 September 1696 - 16 August 1773), and had issue
Don Gaetano I Boncompagni Ludovisi (Isola di Sora, 21 August 1706 - 24 March/May 1777), their successor, married on 7 November 1726 his third cousin Laura Chigi (20 October 1707 - 8 October 1792), daughter of Augusto Chigi, Prince of Farnese (1662 - 1744), great-grandnephew of Pope Alexander VII, great-great-grandnephew of Pope Paul V, great-great-great-great-grandnephew of Pope Clement VIII and great-great-grandnephew of Pope Gregory XV, and wife (11 February 1707) Maria Eleonora Rospigliosi of the Princes Rospigliosi, Dukes of Zagarolo (27 September 1682 - December 1734), grandniece of Pope Clement IX, and had issue
Don Pietro/Pier Gregorio/Piergregorio Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Isola di Sora, 28 October 1709/19 October 1710 - 7 September 1747), 2nd Duke Consort of Fiano, married in 1730 or on 4 January 1731 his first cousin and first cousin once removed Maria Francesca Ottoboni (1715 - 29 April 1758), 2nd Duchess of Fiano, daughter of Marco Ottoboni, 1st Duke of Fiano in 1690 (Venice, 23 March 1656 - Rome, 13 April 1723), nephew of Pope Alexander VIII, and second wife (1714) Donna Maria Giulia Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Rome, 22 January 1695 - 3 November 1751), and had issue:
- Donna Anna Theresa Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (3 June 1732 - 24 April 1761), married in 1753/1755 as his first wife Don Nicola/Niccolò Sergio III Muscettola, 5th Prince of Leporano, 5th Duke of Schiavi (17 November 1726 - 5 October 1776), without issue
- Don Alessandro Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (11 July 1734 - 17 October 1780), 3rd Duke of Fiano in 1758, married in 1757 Lucrezia Zuliano/Zulian (? - Venice, 12 June 1782), without issue
- Don Antonio Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (17 March 1736 - 7 January 1803), 4th Duke of Fiano in 1780, married in 1783 his second cousin twice removed and second cousin once removed Clelia Borromeo (? - 20 August 1816), daughter of Renato Borromeo, Marquess of Angera, Count of Arona (10 December 1710 - 23 January 1778), great-grandnephew of Pope Innocent XI, and wife and third cousin (1743) Marianna Odescalchi (14 December 1723 - ?), great-grandniece of Pope Innocent XI, great-great-great-great-great-grandniece of Pope Paul V and Pope Clement VIII, great-great-great-great-grandniece of Pope Gregory XV, great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Pope Gregory XIII and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Pope Paul III, without issue
- Donna Chiara/Chjara Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 1737 - Naples, 14 October 1820), married in 1756 Don Giambattista Cicala, Prince of Tiriolo
- Don Pietro Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 29 February 1740 - 15 October 1789), a monk
- Don Marco Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 29 January 1741 - Rome, 2 January/1 February 1818), 5th Duke of Fiano in 1803, married in 1795 Donna Giustiniana Sambiase (Naples, 22 October 1777 - Rome, 16 June 1833), 7th Princess of Campana, 10th Duchess of Crosia, Grandee of Spain 1st Class, Neapolitan Patrician, Patrician of Cosenza, daughter of Don Vincenzo Sambiase, 4th Prince of Campana, 7th Duke of Crosia, 4th Count of Bocchigliero, Grandee of Spain 1st Class in 1776, Neapolitan Patrician, Patrician of Cosenza (21 February 1754 - 22 November 1784), and wife (26 September 1771) Donna Giovanna Ruffo of the Dukes of Baranello and of the Princes of Spinoso, Marquesses of Guardia Perticara, Lords of Accettura and Gorgoglione (11 October 1751 - 15 September 1824), and had issue:
  - Donna Luigia Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 27 October 1799 - 13 January 1836), married on 18 November 1817 Knight Francesco Papafava/Pappafava de'/dei Carraresi (5 January 1782 - ?), and had female issue
  - Donna Giovanna Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 24 October 1802 - 1858), married in 1822 Marquess Girolamo Serlupi-Crescenzi (1802 - 1867), and had issue
  - Don Alessandro Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 20 January/February 1805 - Rome, 29 August 1837), 6th Duke of Fiano in 1818, married on 14 February 1831 his cousin Princess Donna Costanza Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Rome, 11/31 December 1811 - 7 August 1851), and had issue:
    - Don Marco Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 21 April/September 1832 - Rome, 29 March 1909), 7th Duke of Fiano, married on 21 September 1857 his cousin and first cousin Princess Donna Giulia Boncompagni-Ludovisi (11 February 1839 - 20 November 1897), and had issue:
      - Donna Costanza Maria Anna Giuseppina Antonietta Luisa Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Rome, 28 June 1858 - 11 November 1904), married firstly on 25 October 1879 Mario Ruspoli of the Princes of Cerveteri (1855 - 29 February 1888), and had issue, and married secondly in Padua on 29 December 1888 Alessandro, Count Cittadella-Vigodarzere (1849 - 1931), and had issue:
        Augusto Ruspoli-Ottoboni (Rome, 8 September 1880 - ?), 8th Duke of Fiano, who assumed the surname Ottoboni and related titles by maternal inheritance, unmarried and without issue
        
        Andreina Cittadella-Vigodarzere (21 January 1892 - Villa Bolzanella, 16 June 1975), married in 1925 Carlo Ferrari-Ardicini (Milan, 31 December 1882 - Cittadella, 16 May 1964), General, without issue
        
        Andrea Cittadella-Vigodarzere (1894 - ?), Count of Onara and Bolzonella, married in 1929 Elisabetta Poli, and had issue:
        Alessandro Cittadella-Vigodarzere (1929 - 17 May 2006), unmarried and without issue
        
        Giorgio Cittadella-Vigodarzere (1932 - 6 March 2013), unmarried and without issue
      - Donna Luisa Maria Margherita Anna Giuseppina Giustina Boncompagni-Ludovisi-Ottoboni (Paris, 7 October 1861 - Rome, 29 March 1918), married in Rome on 4 May 1882 Carlo, Count Rasponi-Bonanzi (Ravenna, 24 April 1858 - Rome, 20 August 1920), Senator of the Kingdom of Italy, great-grandson of Joachim Murat and wife Caroline Bonaparte, and had issue:
        Gaetana Rasponi-Bonanzi (Ravenna, 5 May 1884 - ?), unmarried and without issue
        
        Leone Rasponi-Bonanzi (Ravenna, 3 June 1885 - Florence, 1952), married without issue
        
        Cesare Lodovico Rasponi-Bonanzi-Ottoboni (Rome, 13 March 1888 - 1957), 9th Duke of Fiano, married in 1928 as her second husband Giulia Volchi-Vici (Rome, 5 December 1881 - Zurich, 21 September 1958), without issue
        
        Paola Rasponi-Bonanzi (18 June 1890 - ?), unmarried and without issue

Indeed, his brother died in January 1707, and Antonio became the next Duke of Sora.

But he had attracted widespread attention before in 1701. After the failure of the Conspiracy of Macchia, the conspirators fled the Kingdom of Naples towards the Papal States. One of these, Giambattista di Capua, prince Della Riccia, had ventured into the fiefdoms of the Boncompagni, with whom he was related, finding a night refuge in a small church near Isola di Sora. As soon as Antonio heard of this news, he gave immediate orders to arrest the prince, despite the blood ties that united them and the violation of the sacred right of asylum in a church. The prince was sent back to Naples where he was imprisoned in Castel dell'Ovo.

At the time, the episode caused a considerable stir, attracting the ire of the pro-Austrians and the applause of the pro-Spanish Italians. The Pope even threatened Antonio with a solemn excommunication. The story of Antonio and Prince Della Riccia also reached the ears of King Philip V of Spain who, intending to exploit this episode for his own propaganda, decided to publicly reward Boncompagni by creating him Grand Seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and in 1702 awarded him with the Order of the Golden Fleece. In 1707 he also made him commander of a company of cavalry.

His fortune turned when the Austrians conquered Naples during and after the War of Spanish Succession.

His pro-Spanish reputation excluded him from taking an active part in the social, court or political life of the Kingdom.

Antonio I decided to live the rest of his life in his fiefdom of Sora, working hard for the implementation of the local fiber processing and weaving industry, especially in Isola del Liri and Arpino, establishing commercial routes with the Papal States.

He died in Isola del Liri on 28 January 1731, three years before the return of the Spaniards as rulers of Naples.

References

Treccani

Preceded by Gregorio II Boncompagni	Duke of Sora 1707–1731	Succeeded by Gaetano I Boncompagni Ludovisi