MARIA CAROLINA

She was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV and III, who later became King of the Two Sicilies. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her favourite, Sir John Acton, and the expulsion of Spanish influence. She was a proponent of enlightened absolutism until the advent of the French Revolution, when, in order to prevent its ideas gaining currency, she made Naples a police state.Maria Carolina, abhorring how the French treated their queen, her sister Marie Antoinette, allied Naples with Britain and Austria during the Napoleonic and French Revolutionary Wars. As a result of a failed Neapolitan invasion of French-occupied Rome, she fled to Sicily with her husband in December 1798. One month later, the Parthenopean Republic was declared, which repudiated Bourbon rule in Naples for six months. Deposed as Queen of Naples for a second time by French forces, in 1806, Maria Carolina died in Vienna in 1814, a year before her husband's restoration to Naples.The document is addressed to her sister MARIA AMALIA (Duchess of Parma, 1746-1804) who was duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla by marriage to Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma. She was born an archduchess of Austria as the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. Upon her arrival in Parma in 1769 until the death of her husband in 1802, she was the de facto ruler of the duchyCardinal Fabrizio RUFFO (1744-1827, Italian Cardinal and Politician) was a trusted confidant of Maria Carolina and her husband.. He led the popular anti-Jacobin Sanfedismo movement (whose members were known as the Sanfedisti).TranscriptionMaria Carolina, Dei Gratia Siciliarum et Hierusalem Regina, Dux Parmae, Placentiae et Castri, Magna Princeps Etruriae Archidux Austriae, Regia Princeps Hungariae et Bohemiae. Quum Regiam Prolem, quam feliciter edituram expectamus Serenissimam Romanorum Imperatricem, Hungariae et Bohemiae Reginam Mariam Theresiam dilectissimam diliam nostram, e sacro Regenerationis Fonte, quippe qui absentes suscipere nequeamus, ideo Serenissimam Regiam Principem Archiducem Austriae Mariam Amaliam iquani hoc sibi negotie daturam esse confidimus ad hanc veni Proccevatricem nostram decernimus et constituimus, ut praesens vices nostras obire, neonatamque Regiam Prolem ad Sacrum Baptismatis Fontem nostro nomine levare ac tenere, eaque omnia spondere et praestare possit et valeat, quae spondenda praestandaque sunt, quo S. Romano- Catholicae Ecclesia institutis, et ritibus satisfiat. Quae quidem nos rata, valida et firma habituras esse pollicemur, ac si Nos metipsae interpripenius, omniaque per Nos ipsas fuissent expedita et gesta. Atque ut haec omnibus, quorum interest innotescant, hasce literas exaravi jussimus, nostra manu subscriptas, nostro sigillo obsignatas, et a nostro secretario recognitas Neapoli Cidibus Decembres MDCCXCVI. Maria Carolina. Fabritius RuffoTranslationMaria Carolina, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Sicilia and Jerusalem, Duchess of Parma, Placentia and Castelnuovo, Great Princess of Etruria, Archduchess of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary and Bohemia. Since we cannot receive the Royal Child, whom we expect to be born happily, from the sacred Fountain of Regeneration, since we are unable to receive him in our absence, we therefore trust that the Most Serene Royal Princess Archduchess of Austria Maria Amalia will give herself this task without any difficulty, and we decree and appoint our Prosecutor to this present one, so that she may take our place, and in our name lift and hold the newborn Royal Child to the Sacred Fountain of Baptism, and may promise and perform all those things which are to be promised and performed, so that the institutions and rites of the Holy Roman Catholic Church may be satisfied. Which indeed we promise to hold to be ratified, valid and firm, as if We ourselves had intervened beforehand, and all things had been expedited and carried out by Us. And so that these may be known to all who are interested, I have ordered these letters to be drawn up, signed by our hand, sealed with our seal, and acknowledged by our secretary. Naples, December 1796 Maria Carolina. Fabritius Ruffo