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FERDINAND (SPAIN) 135 The its upon Ferdinand the title of rex piissimm. 1 reconquest of Sicily, which had proclaimed independence, was completed after a protracted struggle. In the contests with the insurgents Ferdinand had ordered the bombardment of his principal cities, and thus obtained the epi- thet of bombardatore, abbreviated into "Bom- ba," by which he has often been designated. The harshest treatment was exercised toward the political prisoners in Naples, who were estimated by Mr. Gladstone in 1851 to number at least 13,000. At the Paris congress of 1856 Ferdinand was advised to pursue a milder system of government, and to grant a general amnesty, which he declined to do. On Dec. 8 of that year a private soldier attempted to as- sassinate him. In 1857 the seizure and confis- cation of the Cagliari, a Sardinian merchant steamer in which revolutionists had been con- veyed to Naples, led to a diplomatic rupture between Naples and Sardinia, France, and England. A few months before his death he proclaimed an amnesty, but with such limita- tions that only 70 bagnio convicts would profit by it; they were banished for life, and re- stricted to reside in America. III. SPAIN. FERDINAND I., the Great, king of Castile, Leon, and Galicia, born about 1000, died in Leon, Dec. 27, 10G5. He was the second son of Sancho el Mayor, king of Navarre. In 1033 he received the hand of Sancha, sister of Ber- mudo III. of Leon, and the title of king of Cas- fcile, which was henceforth recognized as an in- dependent sovereignty. On the death of San- cho in 1035, Bermudo attempted to reannex the new state to his dominions ; but he was de- feated and slain by Ferdinand in 1037. The young king of Castile forthwith claimed and received the crown of Leon, in right of his queen ; and by able management and forbear- ance he reconciled to his cause many lords who at first had opposed his accession to the throne. He soon gained popularity by his respect for the laws of the country, his main- tenance of the ancient fueros, and his strict administration of justice. He invaded Portu- gal and acquired in 1045 a considerable portion of it. From 1046 to 1049 he was engaged in wars against the Moors, and reduced the kings of Saragossa and Toledo to tributaries. His elder brother, Garcia III., king of Navarre, having attacked him in 1054, lost his life in a buttle fought near Burgos, in the plains of Atapuerca. By this victory Ferdinand gained several districts which formerly belonged to Navarre, and became the most powerful among the Christian princes in the peninsula. In 1056 he took the title of emperor, to indicate his supremacy in Spain. Toward the centre of the peninsula, he extended the boundary of Castile to the gates of Alcala de Henares, and carried hostilities into Valencia and Andalusia, compelling the emir of Seville to swear alle- giance and to restore to him the relics of St. Isidro (1063). His last days were spent in extraordinary devotional exercises. Attacked by a sickness which he knew would be fatal, he returned to Leon, and divided his realms between his three sons. FERDINAND II., king of Leon, Asturias, and Galicia, son of Alfonso VIII. , died in 1188. He succeeded his father in 1157, the king- dom of Castile being given to his brother San- cho III. He carried on several successful wars against Portugal and the Moors, and in- stituted the order of the Christian knights of St. James. FERDINAND III., saint, king of Castile and Leon, born in 1199, died in Seville, May 30, 1252. The son of Alfonso IX. of Leon by Berengaria, queen of Castile, he was indebted to his mother for the latter kingdom, of which he was placed in possession in 1217. His power being firmly established, he commenced in 1225 against the Mohammedans a career of conquest which effectually broke the Moorish power in Spain. In concert with several other princes he first carried his arms through Murcia and Andalusia. Alfonso, dying in 1230, declared his marriage with Berengaria void, and des- ignated his two daughters by his first mar- riage as his successors. Ferdinand interrupted his progress for a while to secure the inherit- ance, which he soon accomplished, and thus permanently united the kingdoms of Castile and Leon. Being now sovereign of Spain from the bay of Biscay to the banks of the Guadal- quivir, and from the confines of Portugal to those of Aragon and Valencia, he was enabled to push his conquests with renewed energy. In 1233 he triumphed over Aben Hud, king of Murcia ; he then successively obtained pos- session of Toledo, Cordova, Ubeda, Trujillo, Jaen, and finally Seville, which surrendered Nov. 23, 1248, after a siege of a year and a half. Ferdinand was an unsparing enemy of the Jews and Albigenses who had sought a refuge within his dominions. He founded the university of Salamanca, and was canonized by Pope Clement X. in 1671. FERDINAND IV., king of Castile and Leon, son of Sancho IV., born in Seville in 1285, died in 1312. He was only ten years old when his father died, and he saw himself assailed at once by his uncle Enrique, who coveted the regency, by Don Juan Nunez de Lara, who wanted to increase his estates, and by the in- fantes of La Cerda, who claimed the crown, and who, respectively aided by the kings of Portugal and Aragon, aimed at a partition of the kingdom. In these difficult circumstances the young king was sustained by the ability of his mother, Maria de Molina. She suc- ceeded in dividing his enemies, conciliated the king of Portugal, whose daughter Con stanza was married to Ferdinand, and also made an alliance with the king of Aragon. Ferdinand in 1305 made war upon the Mohammedans, gained advantages over them, and took Gibral- tar (1309). The order of templars having been