Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/147

LEFT FERDINAND 117 FERDINAND (1912) ; "Emma McChesney and Com- pany" (1915); and "Cheerful— By Re- quest" (1918). FERDINAND, the namo of several European monarchs, of whom the follow- ing are the most noticeable: EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. Ferdinand I., son of Francis; bom in Vienna, Austria, April 19, 1793; as- cended 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 conces- sions which were found insufficient. "Vienna revolted in May, and Ferdinand at length retired to Olmiitz, 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 Alcala, 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 Zapolya for the crown of Hungary. The war lasted many years and was terminated by an unsatisfac- tory treaty. Ferdinand was elected King of the Romans in 1531, took the title of emperor on the abdication of his brother, Charles V., and was recognized by the 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 elec- tion of the emperor. Ferdinand was a moderate and just ruler, and especially airned at reconciling the conflicting re- ligious parties. He died in Vienna, July 25, 1564. Ferdinand II., grandson of Ferdi- nand I.; born in Gratz, Austria, July 9, 1578. He was crowned King of Bo- hemia 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 chosefor 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 su- premacy. The bigotry and intolerance of Ferdinand led him, at the beginning of the war, to take the most violent measures against the Bohemian Protes- tants, and 30,000 families quitted the country. He died in Vienna, Feb. 15. 1637. 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 advan- tages over the Imperialists, which ter- minated with the peace of Westphalia in 1648. He ^lied 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 Scander- beg. 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 expedi- tion 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 se- curity 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 Fer- dinand was again forced to abandon Naples, the crown of which Napoleon I. conferred first on his brother Joseph Bonaparte, and afterward on his brother- in-law MURAT (q. v.), Ferdinand, how- ever, continuing to reign in Sicily under English protection. In 1814 the Con- gress of Vienna finally established Fer- dinand as King of the Two Sicilies. Rev-