The Kings Of France Part 5 of 6 - The Bourbon Dynasty

The house of Bourbon originated in France and is a part of the Capetian Dynasty. Over time, the house became one of the most important European dynasties and its members became kings of Navarre, France, Spain, the two Sicilies and Dukes of Parma. The name Bourbon derives from the castle now called Bourbon l'Archambault, which was attached to the dominion of Bourbonnais. The first ancestor of the Bourbon Dynasty is considered to be Adhémar, who was a viscount of Châtel-de-Neuvre. As merit for his loyalty, in 913 the French king Charles the Simple granted him several lands situated in Berry, Auvergne and Autunois, on the banks of the Allier. Adhémar had four sons: Aymon I, who succeeded Adhémar as lord of Bourbon after his death in 953, Archimbald, Dagobert and Emmo. In 1268, Adhémar's descendant Beatrix of Bourbon married Count Robert of Clermont, who was the sixth son of King Louis IX of France. Their son Louis became duke of Bourbon in 1327. Peter II of Bourbon married Anna of France in 1473 and became co-regent of France in 1483. After two centuries, however, the house lost the duchy of Bourbon, but in 1555 the Bourbon-Vendôme branch obtained rule over Navarre and in 1589 through Henry of Bourbon that over France, when Henry became Henri IV Of France and Navarre. The Bourbon-Condé and Conti branches, who were called princes of the blood because they were branches of the family from before Henry IV's accession to the throne, never ruled France and the branches died out. The Bourbons came to power in Spain when Philip V, who was a grandson of Louis XIV, ascended the spanish throne in 1700, after Charles II Of Spain died without offspring. With some interruptions, they have retained the spanish throne to this day. The kings of the two Sicilies (Bourbon-Sicily) and the Dukes of Parma (Bourbon-Parma) descended from the Spanish Branch of the Bourbon bloodline.