Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/92

 82 FERDINAND It was now augmented aud mobilized as a body of military police for the detection and repression of all crimes against person or property committed on the highways or in the open country. For these ends it proved very useful; and also for another purpose, which is believed to have been aimed at in its constitution, that of checking the arrogance and rapacity of the feudal aristocracy. The next step for the avowed purpose of securing orderly government was the institution of the famous Inquisition as a tribunal for the repression of heresy (and, as some historians do not hesitate to add, for the extortion of money). The necessary bull was obtained from Sixtus IV. in 1478; the court was instituted at Seville in 1480, where the first auto defe took place in the following year. The arrangement was ex tended to Aragon in 1483, Torquemada being appointed first inquisitor-general. Among other measures taken by Ferdinand and Isabella for the consolidation of their power were the assumption of the grand-masterships of the three great military orders of knighthood, and the vindica tion from papal usurpation of their ancient rights of eccle siastical patronage. One result of their firm and on the whole wise policy was that between the years 1477 and 1482 the revenue of the country had been augmented nearly six-fold, and that in 1481 they were free to resume the long-suspended war against the Moors. From the capture of Alhama to the fall of Granada in 1492 (1st January), the Christian arms had met with a series of un interrupted successes which resulted in the final extinction of the Mahometan power in Spain, the Moors, however, being permitted the enjoyment of certain stipulated privi leges, that of the free exercise of their religion being one. In March 1492 the edict for the expulsion of the Jews was signed at Granada, and it was on the 3d of August in the same year that Columbus sailed from Palos in Andalucia, landing on the island of San Salvador on the 12th of October. In 1493 Ferdinand began to look abroad and take a practical interest in European affairs. By the treaty of Senlis he secured from Charles VI H. the restoration of Roussillon (now the department of Pyrenees Orientales) and of Cerdagne (now part of Catalonia), which had been mort gaged by John IT. of Aragon to Louis XL In 1494 Charles VIII. having undertaken his great Italian expedi tion, Ferdinand entered into an alliance with the emperor, the pope, and the states of Milan and Venice, and thus gained a footing in Italy for the Spanish troops which, under Gonsalvo de Cordova, succeeded in expelling Charles from Naples in 1496. By the peace of 1498, however, the throne of that kingdom was left in possession of Frederick. In 1499 the liberty of worship which had been guaranteed to the Moors of Granada was treacherously withdrawn ; serious risings in the Alpujarras (Sierra Nevada) were the consequence (1501) ; a decree was issued in 1502 offering to the conquered insurrectionists the alternatives of baptism or exile ; and, the latter being usually chosen, Spain had to suffer a second time the loss of many of her most useful subjects. The Neapolitan war again broke out in 1500, and an alliance was formed between Ferdinand and Louis XII. on the basis of a partition of their conquests. This pact was broken by Ferdinand, who by the battles of Curignola and Garigliano became sovereign of Naples (Ferdinand III.) in 1504. The death of Isabella took place on November 23d of the same year; and in accord ance with her will Ferdinand immediately caused his daughter Juana to be proclaimed queen and himself regent. Philip archduke of Austria, the husband of Juana, having disputed the rights of his father-in-law and threatened an appeal to arms, the latter in disgust, with the view of again separating the crowns of Aragon and Castile, entered into negotiations with Louis XII., married Ger- niaino de Foix, the niece of Louis (1505), and shortly after- wards resigned the regency of Castile. On the death of Philip in 1506 he resumed the administration, though not with out opposition, and retained it till his death. In 1508 he joined the league of Cambray for the partition of Venice, and thus without any trouble became master of five important Neapolitan cities. In the following year (1509) the African expedition of Cardinal Ximenez was undertaken, which resulted in the conquest of Oran. In 1511 Fer dinand joined Venice and Pope Julius II. in a &quot;holy league&quot; for the expulsion of the French from Italy. This gave a pretext for invading Navarre, which had entered into alliance with France, and been laid under papal interdict in consequence. Aided by his son-in-law Henry VIII. of England, who sent a squadron under the marquis of Dorset to co-operate in. the descent on Guienne, Ferdinand became master of Navarre in 1513 ; and on the 15th of June 1515, by a solemn act in cortes held at Burgos, he incorporated it with the kingdom of Castile. He died at Madrigalejo (Estremadura) early iu the following year, 23d January 1516. It is said that his death was accelerated by a potion which in his desire for posterity he had taken in order to reinvigorate his exhausted constitution. He was succeeded by his grandson Charles I. of Spain, more generally known by his European title as the emperor Charles V. Though by no means a great general, Ferdinand possessed undoubted military capacity; though not a great statesman, he had abundant political skill. The largeness of his ambition was somewhat incongruously associated with a narrowness of view which showed itself very unfortunately for Spain in many instances, particularly in his treatment of the Moors and Jews, and with a smalluess of nature which suffered him to treat with neglect his most faithful servants and greatest benefactors, such as Columbus, Navarro, and Ximenez himself. Yet his name is inseparably associated with the most splendid of all periods in the annals of Spain, It was under his guidance that the king dom was consolidated and grew into its position of highest prosperity and greatest influence as a European power. And this must be admitted even when it is remembered that few sovereigns have been associated with such consorts as Isabella was, or surrounded by a band of men so distin guished as were Mendoza, Talavera, Ximenez, Gonsalvo de Cordova, and Pedro Navarro. See Zurita, finales, torn. v. and vi. ; Mariana, Hist. Gen., xxiii.-xxx. ; and Prescott s brilliant History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. FERDINAND VI. (1713-1759), king of Spain, some times called the Sage, the younger son of Philip V. and Maria Louisa of Savoy, was born at Madrid, September 23, 1713. On the death of his elder brother Louis in 1725, Fer dinand was proclaimed prince of the Asturias; and in 1729 he was betrothed to Barbara, daughter of John V. of Portugal. He succeeded his father on July 9, 1746. Since 1739 Spain had been involved in protracted war, first with England in consequence of disputes relative to British interests in the West Indies, and afterwards, since 1740, with Austria on the accession of Maria Theresa. It was Ferdinand s first endeavour on coming to the throne to secure peace for his exhausted country, and one of the earliest acts of his govern ment was to order the withdrawal of the {Spanish troops from Italy (August 1746). Soon afterwards negotiations were opened for peace with England ; and these, though frequently interrupted, ultimately resulted in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which terminated the war of the Austrian succession, thus restoring peace to Europe (October 1748). Weak in health and despondent in temperament, Ferdinand had no inclination thenceforward to take an active part in European affairs, and the management of the public busi ness he abandoned almost entirely to his ministers Ensenada,