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Don Gaetano I Boncompagni-Ludovisi (Isola del Liri, 21 August 1706 – Isola del Liri, 24 March/May 1777) was the 7th Duke of Sora, Aquino, Arce and Arpino and 8th Marquess of Vignola and the Prince 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, from 1745 until 1777.
A declared supporter of the Spanish claims on Naples, just as his father had been, when Charles of Bourbon reconquered the Kingdom of Naples in 1734 during the War of the Polish Succession, Boncompagni was naturally to emerge as one of the most important characters of the new Kingdom of Naples. When Charles of Bourbon made his official entry into Naples, Boncompagni was designated, together with the prince of Centola and representing the Neapolitan nobility, to present the keys of the city to the new sovereign.
In the same year, he was appointed Field marshal and Gentleman of the chamber of the King. The following year, he was chosen as the first Neapolitan ambassador to the court of Spain.
For his diplomatic assignment, to which he had been enticed with the considerable sum of 1,500 ducats a month, Gaetano left Naples on 18 January 1735, arriving at the Spanish court on the following 2 September. Despite the magnificence with which this appointment took place, given the relations of subjection of the Neapolitan politics and diplomacy to that of Madrid, Gaetano's assignment had very little relevance beyond a simple homage from the new King of Naples to his parents in Madrid. King Philip V of Spain awarded him the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1736, and on 20 October of the following year, Gaetano was recalled to his homeland.
In 1737, on the occasion of the wedding between Charles III of Bourbon and Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, he was appointed Mayordomo mayor to the new Queen. Gaetano was able to ingratiate himself with the new Queen, who supported him in the fight against the Spanish first secretaries of state of the kingdom, who tried to subject the traditional Neapolitan aristocracy to the dictates of the Spanish court. He was made a Knight of the Order of San Gennaro and on 22 May 1739, Philip V established the title of Grandee of Spain on the Duchy of Sora in favour of Boncompagni and his descendants.
In 1746, a new court intrigue headed by Boncompagni produced the fall of First Secretary of State José Joaquín de Montealegre. His influence at the court had become even greater, but the hostility of Charles of Bourbon's ministers against him also increased. The latter's trust in him had progressively decreased due to Boncompagni's attitude during the negotiations of the concordat with Rome. Linked by family interests with various figures in the Curia, but above all a man of intransigent religious sentiments (Bernardo Tanucci called him a "bigot"), he opposed as much as he could to the jurisdictional guidelines of the Neapolitan government led by Tanucci, going so far as to appeal to Spain against the decisions taken by Charles's ministers and approved by the King himself.
Gaetano married in Ariccia on 7 November 1726 Donna Laura, Princess Chigi della Rovere (Rome, 20 October 1707 - Rome, 8 October 1792), daughter of Don Augusto Chigi della Rovere, Prince of Farnese, with whom he had nine children:
Donna Maria Teresa Boncompagni-Ludovisi (16 March 1728 - 29 July 1729)
Donna Marianna Boncompagni-Ludovisi (29 September 1730 - 4 February 1812), court lady of Queen Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily, married on 10 April 1748 Don Francesco-Vincenzo Cattaneo della Volta (23 May 1721 - 4 May 1790), Prince of San Nincandro, Duke of Térmoli
Donna Maddalena Boncompagni-Ludovisi (13 July 1733, d. young)
Don Antonio II Boncompagni Ludovisi (15 January/16 June 1735 - 26 April 1805), succeeded his father in his titles and fiefdoms, married firstly in 1757 Maria Giacinta Orsini of the Dukes of Gravina (24 August 1741 - 9 June 1759), without issue, and married secondly on 25 November 1761 Maria Vittoria Sforza-Cesarini of the Princes of Genzano (12 May 1743 - 5 March 1778), and had issue
Don Giacomo Boncompagni-Ludovisi (6 September 1739, d. young)
Don Francesco Boncompagni-Ludovisi (9 April 1741, d. young)
Donna Eleonora Boncompagni-Ludovisi (4 March 1745, d. young)
Donna Ippolita Boncompagni-Ludovisi (16 January 1751 - 7 August 1812), married on 14 February 1768 Abbondio, Prince della Torre di Rezzonico, nephew of Pope Clement XIII
References
Mauro Carrara, Signori e principi di Piombino, Bandecchi & Vivaldi, Pontedera 1996.
