166 



FENNEL FERDINAND. 



memory; and the seventh of January, 1826, his sta- 

 tue, executed by the sculptor David, was placed at 

 ( 'ainbray. Bausset wrote The Life of Fenelon, from 

 original papers; and Champollion-Figeac has pub- 

 lished a collection of his letters, never Before printed. 

 The (Em-res choisies de Fenelon, with his eulogy by 

 La Harpe, and a biographical and critical notice by 

 M. Villemain, appeared at Paris, 1825, in 6 vols. 



FENNEL (anethum faeniculum); a tall plant of the 

 natural order umbelliferce, bearing umbels of small 

 yellow flowers, and finely divided leaves. By culti- 

 vation, the seeds lose their acrid properties, and ac- 

 quire an agreeable flavour ; they are carminative, and 

 are frequently employed in medicine. In Italy, the 

 young sprouts are eaten as a salad, and also in soups. 

 The A. graveolens has a strong and less agreeable 

 odour, and does not, ordinarily, exceed eighteen 

 inches in height. Fennel seed is extensively export- 

 ed from France to Great Britain, and is said to be 

 employed in the manufacture of gin. 



FENTON, ELIJAH, an English author and poet of 

 considerable talent, as well as learning, was born in 

 1683, at Shelton, near Newcastle, in Staffordshire. 

 He was of an ancient and respectable family, but the 

 youngest of twelve children. After going through 

 the usual course of education at Jesus college, Cam- 

 bridge, he took his bachelor's degree with the inten- 

 tion of entering the church. This design was, how- 

 ever, rendered abortive by his political principles, 

 and he accepted an engagement in the capacity of 

 usher. The earl of Orrery afterwards, through the 

 recommendation of his friends, was induced to make 

 him his private secretary, and to place his eldest son 

 under his care. In this situation he became acquaint- 

 ed with most of the wits of the age ; and Pope, whom 

 he assisted in his Odyssey (translating the whole of 

 the first, fourth, nineteenth, and twentieth books of 

 that poem), in particular, was much attached to him. 

 Pope's interest was exerted in his favour, both with 

 C rages, the secretary, and after his death, with lady 

 TrumDull, to whose son he was appointed tutor. 

 Besides the translations alluded to, he published, in 

 1709, Oxford and Cambridge Verses ; a volume of 

 poems, 1717; Mariamne, a tragedy, 1723; and the 

 Lives of Milton and Waller, with an edition of the 

 poems of the latter. His death took place, July 13th, 

 1730. As a poet, Fenton displayed much harmony 

 and poetic diction, and, as a translator, considerable 

 sweetness and facility of versification. His tragedy 

 of Mariamne also maintains a respectable rank among 

 similar dramatic productions. 



FEOD, or FEUD. See Feudal System. 



FEODOSIA; a city of European Russia. See 

 Caffa. 



FERDINAND; German emperors. 



1. Ferdinand I., brother of Charles V., whom he 

 succeeded as emperor of Germany, 1558, having been 

 chosen king of the Romans, 1531, and king of Hun- 

 gary and Bohemia, 1526. In 1559, he held a diet 

 at Augsburg, in which the currency of the empire 

 was regulated, and many religious grievances suffered 

 by the Protestants were exposed. Ferdinand was of 

 a mild character, and, at the second session of the 

 council of Trent, in 1562, he obtained several religi- 

 ous privileges for his subjects. The aulic council 

 (q. v.) was definitively organized during his reign. 

 He ascended the throne too late to effect as much 

 good in Germany as he would otherwise have done. 



2. Ferdinand II. succeeded his uncle Matthias, who 

 died without children, and who had secured to him 

 the succession in an assembly of the states, in 1617. 

 He ascended the imperial throne when the thirty 

 years' war (q. v.) was just on the point of breaking 

 out, and the house of Austria was in a critical situa- 

 tion, lie was of a dark and reserved character, had 



been educated by the Jesuits at Ingolstadt, and, in 

 his religious views, was very unlike his ancestors, 

 Ferdinand I., Maximilian, or even Rodolph and Mat- 

 thias. His zeal was excited against every deviation 

 from the decrees of the council of Trent, and he 

 obstinately adhered to bigoted and narrow views of 

 religion. The retreat of the Bohemian forces, who 

 had appeared before Vienna, under the command of 

 Thurn, gave him an opportunity of securing his elec- 

 tion to the imperial throne, in spite of the opposition 

 of the Union and the Bohemians (1619). The sup- 

 port of the league, and of the elector of Saxony, John 

 George I., placed him firmly on the throne of Bohe- 

 mia, where he relentlessly persecuted the Protestants, 

 banishing their preachers, and compelling many thou- 

 sand industrious people to remove to foreign coun- 

 tries. He recalled the Jesuits, and tore the charter 

 of privileges, granted by Rodolph II., with his own 

 hand. (See Calixtines.) He declared his rival, 

 Frederic V., under the ban of the empire, and in spite 

 of the opposition of the elector of Saxony, transferred 

 the Palatinate to the duke of Bavaria, who supported 

 his measures. His generals, Tilly and Wallenstein, 

 defeated Christian IV., king of Denmark, Christian, 

 duke of Brunswick, and count Mansfeld. The two 

 dukes of Mecklenburg, who had taken part with 

 Denmark, were put under the ban of the empire. 

 Wallenstein was invested with the duchy of Meck- 

 lenburg. He also attempted to make himself master 

 of the commerce of the Baltic ; but this project failed, 

 the siege of Stralsund being rendered ineffectual by 

 the protection of the Hanse towns. He now pub- 

 lished the edict of restitution (1629), restoring all the 

 ecclesiastical foundations which had been abolished 

 by the Protestants, contrary to the ecclesiastical re- 

 servation (see Religious Peace), to the Catholic 

 bishops and prelates, declaring the Calvinists to be 

 excluded from the religious peace, and requiring the 

 Protestant subjects of Catholic princes to embrace 

 the Catholic religion. This edict was carried into 

 execution, by force of arms, at Augsburg, Ulm, 

 Kauffburen and Ratisbon. But the dismission of 

 Wallenstein, which was almost unanimously demand- 

 ed by the diet, and the efforts of Richelieu, who put 

 all Ins political machinery in motion, in order to se- 

 cure to France a powerful influence in Europe, and 

 to limit the almost overwhelming power of the house 

 of Austria, and, finally, the power of Gustavus Adol- 

 phus, supported by France and assisted by the Pro- 

 testants, when they found all hopes of reconciliation 

 destroyed by the siege of Magdeburg, all contri- 

 buted to prevent Ferdinand from carrying his plan 

 into execution. The death of Gustavus Adolphus, 

 the victory of his own son, the archduke Ferdinand, 

 over Bernard, duke of Wiemar, at Nordlingen, and 

 the separate peace with Saxony (Prague, 1635), gave 

 him the prospect of an ultimate triumph over the 

 Protestants. But the treatment of the elector of 

 Treves, who, having placed himself under the pro- 

 tection of France, and received French troops into 

 his fortresses, was carried off from Luxemburg by 

 the Spanish troops, by the command of Ferdinand 

 and Philip IV., and the murder of the French garri- 

 son, gave France a pretext for an immediate war 

 with Spain and Austria. Sweden could now act with 

 renewed vigour. Baner (q. v.) defeated the imperial 

 and Saxon forces at Wittstock, 1636, and drove them 

 out of Hesse; and Ferdinand died Feb. 15, 1637, 

 without having accomplished his design of destroying 

 Protestantism and political freedom in Germany. 



3. His son, Ferdinand III., the victor of Nordlin. 

 gen, succeeded him. He was more disposed towards 

 peace than his father. Baner, and Bernard, duke of 

 Weimar, repeatedly defeated the imperial troops. 

 Still, however, the diet, assembled at Ratisbon in 



