FERRARA 



Ferrara. City of Italy, capital 

 of the prov. of Ferrara. 'it stands 

 about 3 m. S. of the river Po di 

 Volano, 30, m. by rly. N.N.E. of 

 Bologna. A.n archiepiscopal see, 

 its cathedral dates from the early 

 12th century. The city is sur- 

 rounded by crumbling walls, but its 

 palaces and other structures attest 

 its former splendour. It was the 

 seat of the court of the family of 

 Este (q.v.), and their castle (now 

 utilised as public offices) was a 

 moated fortress with four towers. 

 The university was founded in 

 1264, and its library is rich in MSS. 

 of Tasso, etc. Among other build- 

 ings of interest are a picture 

 gallery, and the houses of Ariosto 

 and Guarini. 



From the 14th to the 17th cen- 

 tury Ferrara was a prosperous city, 

 and in the 15th was noted for its 

 school of painting. It has a trade 

 in hemp, soap, wax, candles, glass, 

 and silk. Guarini and Savonarola 

 were natives. It came into the 

 possession of the Este family in 

 1146, and was their capital until 

 1598, when it passed to the papacv. 

 Pop. 102,550. 



Ferrara, ANDREA, Italian sword - 

 maker of the 16th century. He was 

 working in Belluno in 1585, and 

 swords bearing his name were used 

 in Scotland in the 16th and 17th 

 centuries. The steel had a temper 

 which was claimed to be that 

 invented by the swordsmiths of 

 Damascus. The name Andrea 

 Ferrara was afterwards employed 

 rather as a trademark than as 

 implying any connexion with the 

 original maker. 



Ferrara- Florence, COUNCIL OF. 

 Oecumenical council of the Church 

 held at Ferrara, and later at 

 Florence, between April, 1438, and 

 July, 1439. It was called by Pope 

 Eugenius IV as a continuation of 

 the council of Basel, and had as its 

 main object the healing of the 

 breach between the Roman and 

 Greek churches. The Latin em- 

 peror, John Palaeologus, represent- 

 ing the Greeks, brought a large dele- 

 gation at the pope's invitation to 

 Ferrara. The scene of the council 

 was changed to Florence in Jan., 

 1439. The debates turned chiefly 

 on the Filioque controversy, i.e. 

 the question whether the Holy 

 Ghost proceeds from the Father 

 and Son (ex Patre Filioque), or 

 from the Father alone. On July 6 

 a decree was published which 

 declared that, ' while the pope 

 was the supreme head of all the 

 Church, the rights of the Eastern 

 patriarchs were to be unaffected. 



The two churches were thus 

 momentarily united in intention, 

 but not in effect. Isidore of Kiev 

 was sent as legate to Constanti- 



3124 



nople by Pope Nicholas V in 1452, 

 in order to push the process of 

 union forward, but before he had 

 accomplished his mission the city 

 was taken by the Saracens, 1453. 

 This undid the work of the council, 

 the last effort at Eastern and 

 Western reunion. 



Ferrel, WILLIAM (1817-91). 

 American meteorologist. Born in 

 Bedford co., Pa., he early turned his 

 attention to the study of meteor- 

 ology, then a neglected science, 

 and his researches soon won him 

 world-wide fame. In 1867 he 

 became a member of the United 

 States coast and geodetic survey, 

 and began to formulate the laws 

 of meteorology on a scientific basis. 

 His invention of a tide -predicting 

 machine came into general use in 

 the U.S. government coast sur- 

 veys, He wrote much on his sub- 

 ject, including Tidal Researches, 

 1874 ; Meteorological Researches, 

 1877-82 ; and Popular Treatise on 

 the Winds, 2nd ed. 1898. 



Ferrel's Law. Law of the 

 deflection of bodies moving in the 

 air of the rotating globe. If a 

 body moves in any direction 

 except E. or W. on the earth's 

 surface, the rotation of the earth 

 will cause it to be deflected to the 

 right in the northern hemisphere, 

 and to the left in the southern 

 hemisphere. The law is an example 

 of the general case in mechanics 

 when a body acted upon by two 

 forces moves in a direction com- 

 pounded of the original directions 

 of the forces. In the northern 

 hemisphere a body forced north- 

 wards receives an eastward im- 

 pulse from the earth's rotation, 

 and moves towards the north-east. 

 Ferrer, FRANCISCO (1859-1909). 

 Spanish revolutionist. Born near 

 Barcelona, he was employed as a 

 rail wayman, 

 1877-85, de- 

 voting atten- 

 tion to the 

 study of 

 socialism and 

 ratio n a 1 i s m. 

 He was closely 

 asso c ia ted 

 with the 

 Francisco Ferrer, activities of 

 Spanish revomiioni,, g"lilaS 

 agitator Zorrilla, with whom he 

 lived in Paris. He returned to 

 Barcelona in 1901, and was 

 prominent in founding lay 

 schools and centres of advanced 

 socialist and rationalist teaching. 

 In June, 1907, he was acquitted of 

 having taken part in the attempt 

 to assassinate the king in 1906. In 

 July, 1909, he was active in the 

 insurrections in Barcelona, aiming 

 at the establishment of a new anti- 

 Catholic state in Catalonia. Con- 



FERRERS 



demned as the prime instigator, he 

 was shot on Oct. 13, 1909, his 

 execution raising much indigna- 

 tion, directed mainly against 

 Roman Catholic influence in 

 Spanish politics, and leading to 

 the fall of the Maura cabinet. 



Ferrers, EARL. British title 

 borne since 1711 by the family of 

 Shirley. The family of Ferrers, 

 ancestors of the Shirleys, first 

 appeared in England with William 

 the Conqueror, having previously 

 been powerful in Normandy. 

 Henry Ferrers was a great land- 

 holder under the Conqueror, especi- 

 ally in the North Midland counties, 

 and his son Robert was made earl 

 of Derby in 1138. His successor?, 

 who had Tutbury Castle for their 

 main stronghold, were known as 

 earls Ferrers or earls of Derby. 

 William, the 4th earl, was one of 

 the richest and most powerful 

 nobles of the time of Henry III, as 

 was his son, the 5th earl. Robert, 

 the 6th earl, having rebelled against 

 the king, lost his lands and title. 



The family, however, survived 

 in several branches. Robert's son, 

 John, was summoned to Parlia- 

 ment in 1299 as Baron Ferrers of 

 Chastley, this being one of the 

 family seats. This title passed to 

 the family of Devereux in 1461 

 and remained therein until 1646, 

 when it fell into abeyance. 



The Shirleys became connected 

 with the title through the marriage 

 of Sir Henry Shirley, Bart., with 

 the daughter of Robert Devereux, 

 2nd earl of Essex. In 1677 Sir 

 Robert Shirley, a descendant of 

 Sir Henry, was allowed to assume 

 the baronial title, and in 1711 he 

 was made Viscount Tarn worth and 

 Earl Ferrers. On his death in 1717 

 the barony passed to a grand- 

 daughter, Elizabeth, wife of the 

 5th earl of Northampton, while a 

 son became the 2nd Earl Ferrers. 



The barony passed to other fami- 

 lies and fell into abeyance in 1855. 

 Laurence, the 4th earl (1720-60), 

 was the last peer in England to be 

 executed as a felon. In 1745 he 

 succeeded to the title on the death 

 of his uncle. In a moment of anger 

 he shot his steward, a man named 

 Johnson, and was tried for murder 

 by his peers in Westminster Hall. 

 Found guilty, he was hanged at 

 Tyburn, May 5, 1760. The story 

 that he was hanged with a silken 

 rope is now disbelieved. The titles 

 passed to his brother, Washington, 

 who became the 5th earl. His 

 descendants held them until the 

 10th earl died in 1912, when an heir 

 was found in a descendant of the 

 1st earl, Walter Knight Shirley 

 (b.1864). Tarn worth Castle, long the 

 family seat, no longer belongs to 

 the Shirleys. 



