Bourbon

The House of Bourbon was a cadet branch of the Capetian kings of France. In 1272 Robert, count of Clermont and son of Saint Louis IX, married Beatrice, heiress of Bourbon. Their son Louis I became duke of Bourbon in 1327 and was a leading prince in 1337.

His descendants served the Valois: Peter I fell at Poitiers in 1356 and John I was captured at Agincourt in 1415. Duke Charles III died at the sack of Rome in 1527, ending the senior line. The Vendome branch became the senior line, and its head inherited the crown as Henry IV in 1589.

Louis XVI was executed in 1793; the Bourbons were restored in 1815 and expelled in 1830, succeeded by Orléans. Louis XIV's grandson became Philip V of Spain in 1700; the Treaty of Utrecht separated the crowns in 1713. Spanish Bourbons took Naples and Sicily in 1734 and Parma in 1748.