Giuseppe Gonzaga
Encyclopedia
Giuseppe Gonzaga was the last Duke of Guastalla.
He was the second son of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla and Maria Vittoria Gonzaga, and was mentally handicapped.
When his elder brother Duke Antonio Ferrante
died in an accident in 1729, Giuseppe was the only remaining male member of the Gonzaga family, so he became Duke.
Giuseppe would probably never have married, but when he became Duke a marriage was arranged in 1731 with the sixteen year-old Eleonore von Holstein (1715–1760), daughter of Duke Leopold of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
-Wiesenburg. The marriage remained childless.
During the War of Polish Succession the Duchy was occupied by the French for four years, between 1734 and 1738.
When Giuseppe Gonzaga died in 1746, Italy was again a theater of war in the War of Austrian Succession, and the Duchy was annexed by Austria.
Two years later, in the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle
, Guastalla was ceded to the Spanish, together with the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, with which it was merged.
He was the second son of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla and Maria Vittoria Gonzaga, and was mentally handicapped.
When his elder brother Duke Antonio Ferrante
Antonio Ferrante Gonzaga
Antonio Ferrante Gonzaga was Duke of Guastalla.He was the son of Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla and Maria Vittoria Gonzaga...
died in an accident in 1729, Giuseppe was the only remaining male member of the Gonzaga family, so he became Duke.
Giuseppe would probably never have married, but when he became Duke a marriage was arranged in 1731 with the sixteen year-old Eleonore von Holstein (1715–1760), daughter of Duke Leopold of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was the name of a branch line of the House of Oldenburg as well as the name of their land. It existed from 1564 until 1668 and was a titular duchy under the King of Denmark, rather than a true territorial dukedom in its own right...
-Wiesenburg. The marriage remained childless.
During the War of Polish Succession the Duchy was occupied by the French for four years, between 1734 and 1738.
When Giuseppe Gonzaga died in 1746, Italy was again a theater of war in the War of Austrian Succession, and the Duchy was annexed by Austria.
Two years later, in the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Imperial Free City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748...
, Guastalla was ceded to the Spanish, together with the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, with which it was merged.