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Ferdinand (Name of several European)

the name of several European monarchs, of whom the following are the most noticeable: EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA.

FERDINAND I., son of Francis; born in Vienna, Austria, April 19, 1793; ascended the imperial throne of Austria in 1835, and continued to pursue the policy of his father, leaving the chief direction of affairs in the hands of METTERNICH (q. v.). In his reign, the republic of Cracow was annihilated, and a portion of it added to the empire. During the Revolutionary war of 1848 he dismissed Metternich, and made several concessions which were found insufficient. found insufficient .

Vienna revolted in May, and Ferdinand at length retired to Olmütz, and on Dec. 2, 1848, abdicated, having no children, in favor of his nephew, Francis Joseph I.

He died in Prague, Austria, June 29, 1875.

EMPERORS OF GERMANY.

FERDINAND I., younger brother of Charles V.; born in Alcalá, Spain, March 10, 1503. He married, in 1521, Anna, daughter of Ladislaus, King of Hungary and Bohemia, became King of Bohemia in 1527, and at the same time contended with John Zápolya for the crown of Hungary. The war lasted many years and was terminated by an unsatisfactory treaty. Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans in 1531, took the title of emperor on the abdication of his brother , by the Charles V., and was recognized by the by electors in 1558. As the Pope, Paul IV., refused to acknowledge his title, it was resolved that the Pope's consent should be thenceforth dispensed with in the election of the emperor. Ferdinand was a moderate and just ruler, and especially aimed at reconciling the conflicting religious parties. He died in Vienna, July 25, 1564.

FERDINAND II., grandson of Ferdinand I.; born in Gratz, Austria, July 9, 1578. He was crowned King of Bohemia in 1617, King of Hungary in the next year, and was elected emperor on the death of his cousin Matthias in 1619.

His Bohemian subjects revolted and chose for their king Frederick V., elector palatine, who reluctantly accepted the crown, and lost it by his defeat at the battle of Prague in 1620. Thus began the famous Thirty Years' War, Catholics and Protestants contending for the supremacy. The bigotry and intolerance of Ferdinand led him, at the beginning of the war, to take the most violent measures against the Bohemian Protestants, and 30,000 families quitted the FERDINAND country. He died in Vienna, Feb. 15, FERDINAND III., son of Ferdinand II.; born in Gratz, Austria, July 11 (or 13), 1608, made King of Hungary in 1625, of Bohemia in 1627, and succeeded his father in 1637. Sweden and France, being in alliance, gained several advantages over the Imperialists, which terminated with the peace of Westphalia in 1648. He died in Vienna, April 2, 1657.

KINGS OF NAPLES AND SICILY FERDINAND I., King of Naples, son of Alfonso I.; born about 1424; succeeded his father in 1458. His false and cruel character provoked a civil war, in which John of Anjou took part with the barons, and the king was aided by the Pope, Sforza, Duke of Milan, and by Scanderbeg. The king defeated his rival in 1462, and made peace; but breaking his word war broke out again. Again the king won, and established order by terror.

He afterward joined with the Pope against the Florentines; but Lorenzo de Medici, by the bold step of a personal visit to Naples, succeeded in detaching him from that alliance, and negotiated a treaty of peace. He was detested for his debaucheries and cruelties; and at the very time that Charles VIII. of France was setting out on his celebrated expedition for the conquest of Naples, he died, Jan. 25, 1494.

FERDINAND II., King of Naples, son of Alfonso II.; born July 26, 1469, succeeded his father, when the latter abdicated in 1495. He died Oct. 7, 1496.

FERDINAND III., King of Naples, the same as FERDINAND V., OF SPAIN (q. v.).

FERDINAND IV., OF NAPLES, AND I. OF THE TWO SICILIES; born in Naples, Italy, Jan. 12, 1751. He ascended the throne in 1759, and reigned in peace and security till the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1792, when, after the death of Louis XVI., he joined the coalition engaged in the general war against France (1793-1796). The victory gained at Aboukir by Lord Nelson again brought Ferdinand into a hostile attitude against the French, who summarily drove him from his kingdom, and inaugurated the Parthenopean Republic in 1799. In the same year, however, his troops regained possession of the capital. In 1806 Ferdinand was again forced to abandon Naples, the crown of which Napoleon I. conferred first on his brother Joseph Bonaparte, and afterward on his brotherin-law MURAT (q. v.), Ferdinand, however, continuing to reign in Sicily under English protection. In 1814 the Congress of Vienna finally established Ferdinand as King of the Two Sicilies.

Rev- 1 FERDINAND olutionary movements, set afloat by the secret CARBONARI, compelled the establishment of a constitution against the advice and interests of Austria, Russia, and Prussia; the first named power marched an army across the Po, defeated the Neapolitan army, and occupied Naples. Ferdinand who, refusing to sanction the liberal declarations of his subjects, had quitted his capital, was then re-established, and ruled thenceforward with absolute power. He died in Naples, Jan. 4, 1825.

FERDINAND II. OF THE TWO SICILIES (surnamed Bomba, from his bombarding Palermo and other cities during an insurrection), son of Francis I. of Naples, by Isabella of Spain; born in Palermo, Sicily, Jan. 10, 1810; succeeded his father in 1830. His reign was marked by unbridled tyranny and frequent insurrection of the oppressed people. In 1848, when half the thrones in Europe were trembling in the balance, Sicily burst out into open rebellion. Naples followed suit and Ferdinand was compelled to summon a parliament, and take oath to adopt and maintain a constitution. After succeeding in suppressing the Neapolitan revolt, Ferdinand, in 1849, dissolved the parliament, and violated his oath by annulling the constitution. After succeeding in subjugating Sicily, his tyranny knew neither bounds nor sense of common decency. Even the most absolute of European sovereigns condemned his rule and grave remonstrances were addressed to him at the Congress of Paris in 1856.

These proving unavailing, France and England proceeded in the same year to recall their ambassadors, and suspended all diplomatic intercourse. He died in Naples, May 22, 1859.

KINGS OF PORTUGAL FERDINAND I.; born about 1345; succeeded his father Pedro I., in 1367. On the death of Peter the Cruel, King of Castile, he assumed the latter title, which produced a war between him and Henry of Transtamara, who ravaged Portugal, and forced Ferdinand to make peace and marry his daughter. This marriage he afterward disowned, and entered into an alliance with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who laid claim to the Castilian throne. This war proved very disastrous to the Portuguese, and Ferdinand was obliged to sue for peace. Another war was entered into in which he was supported by the English, and was for a time successful, but was at last under the necessity of making peace. He died in 1383.