FERDINAND VI 



3117 



FERDINAND II 



born March 16, 1452. He was as- 

 signed the Sicilian kingdom in 1468, 

 and succeeded his father as Ferdi- 

 nand II of Aragon in 1479. In 1469 

 he had married Isabella, sister of 

 Henry IV of Castile, the recognized 

 heiress to the Castilian throne. 

 Henry died in 1474, and Isabella 

 was established as queen of Castile 

 in 1479, the year in which Ferdi- 

 nand succeeded to the crown of 

 Aragon. There were now in the 

 Spanish penin- 

 sula five king- 

 d o m s : the 

 Moorish do- 

 minion of Gra- 

 nada, Portugal, 

 Navarre, Cas- 

 tile, and Ara- 

 gon. The last 

 two kingdoms 

 were under one 

 crown, though 

 ' retaining sepa- 

 rate governments. A long war 

 with Granada ended triumphantly 

 with its annexation in 1492; and 

 in 1512 Ferdinand acquired almost 

 all of Navarre. 



Thus during his reign the entire 

 peninsula, except Portugal, was 

 brought under a single dominion. 

 Sicily was already attached to the 

 kingdom of Aragon, to which S. 

 Italy or Naples was added by the 

 ousting of the French in 1504. 

 Further, the discovery of America, 

 1492, by Columbus, under the aus- 

 pices of Ferdinand and Isabella, 

 secured what was almost the mon- 

 opoly of the New World to Spain, 

 which had thus been raised to the 

 position at least of equality with 

 France. Isabella was something 

 more than the partner of Ferdi- 

 nand in the expansion of their joint 

 dominion and in bringing -each of 

 their separate kingdoms under the 

 effective control of the crown. She 

 rendered ill service to Spain, how- 

 ever, by introducing the Inquisi- 

 tion (q.v.) in 1480. The expulsion 

 of the Jews and the harsh re- 

 strictions imposed upon the 

 Moors were also highly injurious. 

 The course of future events was 

 greatly influenced by the marriage 

 of the elder daughter Joanna to 

 Philip, duke of Burgundy, heir 

 to the Austrian Hapsburgs, and 

 of the younger, Catherine, first 

 to Arthur, prince of Wales, and 

 after his death to his brother 

 Henry. 



Ferdinand was noted as the 

 craftiest sovereign of his day, his 

 only rival in that quality being 

 Henry VII of England, with 

 whom he was usually joined in an 

 alliance in which each sought the 

 maximum advantage at the other's 

 expense. After the death of Isabella, 

 1504, Ferdinand's craft degenerated 



into mere cunning. The crowns 

 of Castile and Aragon were actually 

 parted when Isabella died ; but 

 Joanna, duchess of Burgundy, was 

 heiress of both, and her place was 

 taken by her son, afterwards 

 Charles V. Except during a brief 

 interval, Ferdinand retained the 

 government of Castile as regent 

 until his death, Jan. 23, 1516. 

 The character of Ferdinand is 

 summed up in the story of his 

 reply when told that Louis XII 

 complained that he had cheated 

 him once. " He lies ; I have 

 cheated him thrice." See Hist, of 

 the Reign of Ferdinand and Isa- 

 bella, W. H. Prescott, ed. J. F. 

 Kirk, repr. 1902. See illus. p. 2158. 

 Ferdinand VI (1712-59). King 

 of Spain. The second son of Philip 

 V, he was born Sept. 23, 1712, and 

 ascended the throne in 1746. He 

 immediately set himself to carry 

 out internal reforms, having first 

 concluded the peace of Aix-la- 

 Chapelle, 1748. At the outbreak 

 of the Seven Years' War in 1756 

 he declared his neutrality. Three 

 years later, broken-hearted at the 

 loss of his wife, Maria of Portugal, 

 his reason gave way, and he died 

 Aug. 10, 1759. The crown of Spain 

 passed to his half-brother, Charles 

 III of Naples. 



Ferdinand VII (1784-1833). 

 King of Spain. Son of Charles IV, 

 he was born Oct. 14, 1784, and five 

 years later be- 

 came prince of 

 A s t u r i a s. In 

 opposition t o 

 his father, in 

 1806 he ap- 

 proached the 

 court of France 

 with the pro- 

 ject of marry- 

 i n g one of 

 Napoleon's 

 nieces. He was imprisoned by his 

 father, but the French invasion of 

 Spain caused the latter to abdicate 

 in Ferdinand's favour in 1808. 

 Charles, however, appealed to 

 Napoleon, and withdrew his abdica- 

 tion, and Ferdinand went into re- 

 tirement. After the Peninsular 

 War in 1814 Napoleon reinstated 

 Ferdinand. A reign of terror fol- 

 lowed, and such chaos and rebel- 

 lion prevailed that in 1823 a French 

 army was sent to establish Fer- 

 dinand on his throne. To secure 

 the succession for his daughter, 

 Isabella, in 1830 he abolished the 

 Salic law as applying to the Span- 

 ish throne, thus excluding his 

 brother Carlos, an act which led 

 to grave complications later. He 

 died Sept. 29, 1833, and Isabella 

 came to the throne under the 

 regency of Maria Christina. See 

 Carlists ; Spain : History. 



Ferdinand VII, 

 King of Spain 



* Ferdinand I (1751-1825). King 

 of the Two Sicilies. Born in Naples, 

 Jan. 12, 1751, 

 when his father 

 ascended the 

 Spanish throne 

 as Charles III 

 in 1759, he be- 

 came his suc- 

 cessor as king 

 of Naples and 



of Sicily. ' In 

 Ferdinand I, King , 7RQ . J 

 of the Two Sicilies l . 768 . h ma . r - 



ned Maria 



Carolina of Austria, and was com- 

 pletely dominated by her violent 

 and tyrannical nature. 



After the short-lived Parthen- 

 opean Republic (1799), in the 

 bloody repression of which Nelson, 

 deluded by Lady Hamilton and 

 Maria Carolina, played a part, 

 Ferdinand oppressed his subjects 

 still more. He aided the Austrians 

 against Napoleon, who sent troops 

 to occupy Naples, whereupon Fer- 

 dinand fled to Sicily, and Joseph 

 Bonaparte was proclaimed king 

 in his place. In 1815 Murat, who 

 had succeeded Joseph as king in 

 1808, was deposed, and Ferdinand 

 returned to vent his spite on the 

 populace by the indulgence of an 

 inconceivable tyranny and cruelty. 

 Uniting Naples and Sicily, he be- 

 came the first king of the Two 

 Sicilies. At the suggestion of the 

 European powers he promised 

 various reforms, but consistently 

 with the whole tenor of his life 

 he broke all his oaths and re- 



n'iated his own signature. He 

 on Jan. 4, 1825. 

 Ferdinand U (1810-59). King 

 of the Two Sicilies. Born at 

 Palermo, Jan. 12, 1810, he suc- 

 ceeded to the ^m^amuammaamam 

 throne at the 

 age of 20, in- 

 augurating his 

 reign with the 

 promise of 

 many reforms. 

 His despotic 

 and cruel 

 nature soon 

 showed itself, 

 however, and 

 before long the kingdom was groan- 

 ing under oppressionandcorruption. 

 The insurrections of 1837, 1843, 

 and 1844 culminated in a rising in 

 Sicily and Naples, 1848, which 

 terrified him into granting a con- 

 stitution. The crushing of Italian 

 hopes after Novara, 1849, en- 

 couraged him to annul this, and in 

 order to quell the revolutionary 

 spirit he caused Messina and 

 Palermo to be bombarded, thus 

 earning the nickname of King 

 Bomba. Those who showed liberal 

 tendencies were imprisoned to the 

 number of about 30,000 under 



Ferdinand II, King 

 of the Two Sicilies 



