[3] It was created to compensate the House of Bourbon-Parma for the loss of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, which was bestowed on the former Empress of the French, Marie Louise of Austria.

[4] This time the Infanta accepted and, on 22 November 1817, the Spanish ambassador to the Kingdom of Sardinia, Eusebio Bardají Azara, took possession of the duchy in her name, and she made her triumphal entry into Lucca with her son on 7 December following.

[7] In taking possession of his new state, on 11 October 1847 Leopold II promulgated an unexpected law which abolished the death penalty there,[8] thus making the former Duchy of Lucca the only European territory in which this measure was then legally in force.

However, this situation did not last long as, with a ruling in February 1848, the Court of Cassation of Florence promptly extended the effectiveness of the measure to the entire grand ducal territory.

[9] Three years earlier, in 1845, Charles I had denied pardon to five thieves sentenced to death, having them executed in one fell swoop on the lawn in front of the gate of Lucca called Porta San Donato.