Kingdom of Etruria

The Kingdom of Etruria (Italian: Regno di Etruria) was a kingdom comprising the larger part of Tuscany which existed between 1801 and 1807. It took its name from Etruria, the old Roman name for the land of the Etruscans.

It was created by the Treaty of Aranjuez, signed on 21 March 1801. In the context of a larger agreement between Napoleonic France and Spain, the Bourbons of Parma were compensated for the loss of their territories in Northern Italy, which had been occupied by French troops since 1796: in return for Ferdinand, Duke of Parma relinquishing his claims, his son Louis I was compensated with the Kingdom of Etruria, a new kingdom created out of the old Grand Duchy of Tuscany. To make way for the Bourbons, the Habsburg Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand III, was ousted and compensated with the secularized land of the Electorate of Salzburg.

The first King, Louis I, died young in 1803 and his young son Charles Louis succeeded him. His mother Maria Luisa was appointed regent.

In 1807, Napoleon dissolved the Kingdom again and integrated it into France, turning it into three French départements: Arno, Méditerranée and Ombrone.

The king and his mother were promised the throne of a new Kingdom of Northern Lusitania (in the North of Portugal) but this plan never materialized due to the failure of Napoleon to conquer Portugal.

After Napoleon's downfall in 1814 Tuscany itself was restored to its Habsburg Grand Dukes. In 1815 the Duchy of Lucca was carved out of Tuscany as a temporary compensation for the Bourbons of Parma until in 1847 they could resume their rule over Parma.