Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/88

 78 FERDINAND but Wallenstein took little advantage of the great loss thus sustained by the Protestant cause ; and the emperor, learning that he finally meditated treachery, caused him to be assassinated, February 25, 1634. In the same year the imperial army was successful at the battle of Nordlingen, and after this victory the elector of Saxony separated himself from the Swedish alliance and made peace with Ferdinand; but the Swedes continuing the struggle with great determination, and being afterwards joined by France, Ferdinand, when he died on the loth February 1637, was uncomforted by the hope of any near fulfilment of the purpose expressed in his oath, and attempted by such ruthless persecutions and at such an expense of treasure and of human life. See Khevenhiiller, Annalcs Fcrdinandi II.; the various histories of the Thirty Years War ; Eanke, Die Rom. Fapstc, vol. ii. ; and Hurter, Gcschiehte Ferdinands II. This last is written from a Roman Catholic standpoint. FERDINAND III. (1608-1657), emperor, the son of the preceding, was born at Gratz, llth July 1608. He became king of Bohemia in 1625, king of Hungary in 1627, king of the Romans in 1636, and succeeded his father as emperor in 1637. Milder in disposition, less fanatical in his opinions, and somewhat dispirited on account of the repeated defeats inflicted on the German arms by Duke Beruhard and General Baner, he was at an early period of his reign strongly desirous of obtaining peace even at the cost of liberal concessions to the Protestants ; but the determination of France and Sweden to humiliate the imperial power prevented negotiations being entered into until 1643. Between that date and 1648 fruitless conferences continued to be held, the war meanwhile raging intermittently and with somewhat spent fury. In 1647, however, Ferdinand had guaranteed religious toleration to Hungary, and finally, on October 24, 1648, the Peace of Westphalia was signed, by which was brought to a close a war that, besides the evils inflicted by it on other countries, had desolated the whole of Germany, paralysed its trade, and destroyed more than half its population. By this treaty religious liberty was secured to Germany, although not to Bohemia ; France obtained part of Alsace and Lorraine, and the son of Frederick V. got the Upper Palatinate ; while Sweden obtained Western Pomerania, and became a member of the German diet. The unity of Germany was at the same time so broken up by concessions granted to the independent princes that with the death of Ferdinand III. the German kingdom may be said to have ceased to exist, until re-established by William I. after the Franco-Prussian war. During the peace negotiations of Westphalia, Ferdinand IV., eldest son of Ferdinand III., was chosen king of the Eomans, but he died in 1654, Ferdinand III. died, April 2, 1657, shortly after concluding a treaty with the Poles against Sweden. See Koch, Gcschiehte des Deutschen ReicJis unter Ferdinand III., 1865. FERDINAND I. (1793-1875), emperor of Austria, the eldest son of the emperor Francis I. by his second wife Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI., was born in Vienna, April 19, 1793. He inherited a constitution so weak as to unfit him for the duties of his station, but his amiable and benevolent disposition secured him general respect, and acquired for him the surname of the Good. On the 2d February 1831 he married Princess Anne Caroline, third daughter of Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia, but the marriage was without issue. He was crowned nominal sovereign of Hungary under the title of Ferdinand V. in 1830, succeeded his father as emperor of Austria on the 2d March 1835, and received the crown of Bohemia in 1836, and that of Lombardy in 1839. During his whole reign the government of Austria was virtually in the hands of Prince Metternich, who continued the conserva tive policy of Francis I. The revolution of the 13th March 1848 compelled Metternich to resign office, and, the constitution not meeting with the approval of the revolutionists, Ferdinand fled to Innsbruck. At the urgent request of all parties he shortly afterwards returned to Vienna, but on a renewal of the outbreak he left the capital for Olmiitz in Moravia, where, feeling himself unfit to cope with the difficulties of government, he was persuaded to abdicate in favour .of his nephew Francis Joseph, 2d December 1848. He spent the remainder of his life in retirement, chiefly at Prague in Bohemia, where he died 29th June 1875. FERDINAND I. (1423-1494), king of Naples, the illegitimate son of Alphonso V. of Aragon and I. of Sicily and Naples, was born in 1423. In accordance with his father s will, he succeeded him on the throne of Naples in 1458, but Pope Calixtus III. having refused to recognize him, John of Anjou, desirous to turn to advantage the opportunity of regaining the throne of his ancestors, invaded the country, and inflicted on him a severe defeat, July 7, 1460. Ferdinand fled to Naples accompanied by only twenty cavaliers, but having by certain concessions obtained recognition from Pius II., who about this time succeeded Calixtus on the papal throne, he received through him the aid of the Albanian chief Scanderbeg, and defeated John of Anjou at Troja with great loss, August 18, 1462. In 1480 the Turks captured Otranto from Ferdinand, and massacred the majority of the inhabitants, but in the follow ing year it was retaken. The only other event of import ance during his reign was an abortive attempt at revolt on the part of the nobles in 1485, many of whom, notwithstand ing that he promised them a general amnesty, were after wards treacherously murdered by his commands. On account of his refusing to pay to Innocent VIII. the census- tax promised by him to Pius II., he was in 1489 excommuni cated, but he subsequently gained the favour of Alexander VI He died 25th January 1494, while Charles VIII. of France was preparing to invade his dominions. Though cruel in the infliction of punishment, and ready without scruple to break his promises when it suited him. Ferdi nand generally dealt out to his subjects even-handed justice, favoured the spread of knowledge, and greatly increased the industrial and commercial prosperity of his kingdom. FERDINAND II., king of Naples, grandson of the pre ceding, and son of Alphonso II., was born probably in 14GS. Alphonso finding his tenure of the throne uncertain on ac count of the general dissatisfaction of hi? subjects, abdicated in his son s favour in 1495, but notwithstanding this the treason of a party in Naples rendered it impossible to defend the city against the approach of Charles VIII. Ferdinand fled to Ischia; but when the French left Naples, the Neapolitans, irritated by their conduct during the occu pation of the city, recalled him ; and with the aid of the great general of Ferdinand V. of Spain, Gonzalo de Cordova, he was able completely to rid his state of its invaders shortly before his death on the 7th October 1496. FERDINAND III. of Naples. See FERDINAND V. of Spain. FERDINAND IV. (1751-1 825) of Naples, III. of Sicily, and I. of the Two Sicilies, third son of Don Carlos, king of Naples (afterwards Charles III. of Spain), was born in Naples, January 12, 1751. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759, Ferdinand, in accordance with the treaties which forbade the union of the two crowns, succeeded him on the throne of Naples, under a regency of which Ber nardo Tanucci was the chief. On account of the ambitious purposes of Tanucci, who wished to retain the government of the kingdom as much as possible in his own hands, the education of the young king was very much neglected, while no restraint was put upon his love of pleasure, or