Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/586

* FER-DE-LANCE. 534 FERDINAND II. abundant, being remarkably fecund. It is greatly dreaded, especially at night, when it wanders about. During the day it lies coiled in the fields and roadside herbage, and, unlike almost all other snakes, will attack without warning or waiting for disturbance. Its bite is most likely to prove fatal, and even when the patient re- is it produces long-continued after-effects. The snake is of service, on the other hand, in keeping down rats, etc., destructive to sugar-cane. It is most conspicuous in the French Antilles, where alone it is known by this name. It- intro- duction to the islands of the mungoos (q.v.). in the hope that it might thus be exterminated, has proved useless. The best account of the fer-de- lance is that by Ruz. Enguite sur le serpent de la Martinique (Pari-. 1859). Consult also, Gad- ow, Amphibia and Reptiles (London, 1901). FER'DINAND I. (1503-64). Holy Roman Emperor from 1550 to 1504. He was born at Alcala, Spain, March 10, 1503, and was the second son of Philip of Austria and the younger brother of Charles V. of Germany (Charles I. of Spain), who soon after his accession to the Im- perial throne transferred the hereditary Aus- trian possessions of the Hapsburgs to Ferdinand. In 1521 he married Anna, sister of King Louis II. of Hungary and Bohemia. When Louis fell at Mohacs in 1520 in battle with the Turks, leaving no issue, the crown of Hungary was claimed by Ferdinand in right of his wife, and part of the nobles chose him King. He was at the same time placed by election upon the Bohemian throne. In Hungary Ferdinand became involved in a long struggle with a rival. John Zapolya, the aj wode of Transylvania, who laid claim to Hun- gary, and who was supported by the Turks. The question was at last settled in 1538 by a division of the kingdom between the rivals, with the un- derstanding thai the Austrian line should have the succession to the whole. But in 1540, at the death of John Zapolya. the agreement was not kept, and the Turks carried on the war on behalf of his son Sigismund. while they themselves ap- propriated a large part of the kingdom. In 1547 peace was purchased by means of a yearly tribute to the Turks, but the war was again renewed in 1552 and ended in the retention of their conquests by the Turks. Meanwhile Ferdinand had acted as regent in Germany during the frequent, ab- sences of Charles V.. and in 1531 had been chosen King of the Romans. Tn 1552 he acted as mediator between Charles V: and Maurice, Elec- tor of Saxony, and concluded the Peace of Passat) with the Protestants. In 1556, on the abdication of Charles A"-. Ferdinand mounted the Imperial throne. The concessions he had made to the Protes- tants caused Pope Paul IV. to refuse to acknowl- edge him. II is successoi . Pius IV.. was more com plaisant; lmt the Electors resolved thai for the future the consent of the Pope should nol be asked : and this wa carried out. Ferdinand made Beveral attempts to reconcile the Pn tants and Catholics, and fruitlessly urged upon the Council of Trenl the reformation of abuses. lie effected institutional reforms, notably in con iK.ii.ni with the Aulic Council (q.i ), and he reformed the German currencj He died in 1564, leaving the reputation of a prudenl and enli tiler, and w cee'ded bj bis son, Maximilian H The mosl elaborate work on his n is Bueholtz, '. '' rung Ferdinands I. (Vienna, 1831-38); consult also: Oberleitner, Oesterreichs Finanzen und Heerwesen unter Ferdinand I. (Vienna, 1859); Rosenthal, Die Behordenorganisation Kaiser Ferdinands I. (Vienna, 1887). See Austria-Hungary; Ger- many. FERDINAND II. (1578-1637). Holy Roman Emperor from 1G19 to 1637. He was born at Gratz, July 9, 1578, and was the son of Charles Duke of Styria, and grandson of the Emperor Ferdinand I. His mother. Mary of Bavaria, was a fervent Catholic, and from her, as well as from his Jesuit instructors at Ingolstadt, he imbibed that hatred of Protestantism which is the key note to the policy of his reign. In 1590 he suc- ceeded his father in the duchies of Styria. Carin- thia, and Oarniola. As soon as he was of age, he proceeded to stamp out Protestantism in his dominions by annulling his father's act of tolera- tion and expelling the Protestant pastors. He joined with Maximilian of Bavaria in forming the Catholic League, the ostensible object of which was the protection of the Roman Catholic interests in Germany. In 1617 Ferdinand was crowned King of Bohemia, while the Emperor Matthias was still reigning, and the year following he was crowned King of Hungary as well. The Protestants of Bohemia had enjoyed religious tol- eration since 1609, but Ferdinand, as regent of the kingdom, showed little regard for the rights of his heretical subjects. A dispute regarding the right of the Protestants to build new churches precipitated a conflict. All petitions to the Em- peror proving vain, the Protestants under Count Thurn rose in Prague in May, 1618, invaded I he council chamber of the castle, and threw two members of the Council of Regency, Martinitz and Slavata. out of a lofty window. They then or- ganized a national government, and a Bohemian army under Count Thurn advanced to the Aus- trian frontier. This was the beginning of the Thirty Years' War (q.v.). The death of Matthias, early in 1619, left the Imperial succession open to Ferdinand, but at this juncture he was be- sieged in Vienna by the victorious Thurn. The opportune victory of Bucquoi over Mansfeld and thi approach of a force under Dampierre caused Thurn to withdraw, and Ferdinand was aide to proceed to Frankfort and receive the Imperial election. August, 1619. Two days before his elec tion he had been deposed in Bohemia and I lie crown offered to Frederick V. (q.v.), Elector Pal atine of the Rhine. This prince, who was son- in-law to .Tunics 1. of England, accepted the dig- nity, hut was ousted from his new dominions by the army of the Catholic League under Tilly. which won the battle of the White Mountain. Prague, November, 1620. As soon as his success in Bohemia wa B sured, Ferdinand proceeded to extirpate Proles tantism in that knigdom by the most violent persecution. In Hungary, however, he was forced to grant religions toleration and to recognize Bethlen Gabor as ruler of half the kingdom, In 1020 Wallen loin took the field with a vasl army which lie had raised for the Emperor, whose main reliai in the war againsl the Protestants had hitherto been the arnv of the Catholic Lea under Tilly, and the forces of Spain. Tn 16 Chri tim I V. of Denmark took up arms for the German Protestants. The victories of Wallen in and Tilly made the Catholii cause for the