Kingdom of Etruria | ||||||||||||
Regno di Etruria | ||||||||||||
Client state of the French Empire | ||||||||||||
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Capital | Florence | |||||||||||
Languages | Italian | |||||||||||
Religion | Christian (Roman Catholic) | |||||||||||
Government | Enlightened despotism | |||||||||||
King | ||||||||||||
• | 1801–1803 | Louis I | ||||||||||
• | 1803–1807 | Louis II | ||||||||||
Regent | ||||||||||||
• | 1803–1807 | Maria Luisa | ||||||||||
Historical era | Napoleonic Wars | |||||||||||
• | Established | March 21, 1801 | ||||||||||
• | Disestablished | December 10, 1807 | ||||||||||
Currency | Tuscan pound | |||||||||||
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The Kingdom of Etruria (/ɪˈtrʊəriə/; Italian: Regno di Etruria) was a kingdom between 1801 and 1807 which made up a large part of modern Tuscany. It took its name from Etruria, the old Roman name for the land of the Etruscans.
The kingdom was created by the Treaty of Aranjuez, signed at Aranjuez, Spain 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 territory in northern Italy (which had been occupied by French troops since 1796). Ferdinand, Duke of Parma ceded his duchy to France, and in return his son Louis I was granted the Kingdom of Etruria (which was created from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany). To make way for the Bourbons, the Habsburg Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinand III was ousted and compensated with the Electorate of Salzburg. Originally the Duchy of Tuscany, Etruria had been ceded to the Bourbons in 1801 in the person of Charles IV's eldest daughter and her Italian consort.
Outside the Treaty of Aranjuez, Spain also secretly agreed to retrocede the Louisiana territory (over 2 million square kilometers) back to France in order to secure the Kingdom of Etruria as a client state for Spain; Louisiana was first ceded by France to Spain in 1763 at the end of the Seven Years' War. Louisiana was duly transferred to France on 15 October 1802, after the signing of the Treaty of Aranjuez. Napoleon subsequently sold Louisiana in the Louisiana Purchase on December 20, 1803, in order pay for his French armies during the War of the Third Coalition.