Introduction to Ferdinand
Ferdinand, the name of various European rulers. The more important were the following:
Holy Roman Empire
Ferdinand I(1503–1564), emperor 1556–64. He was a member of the Hapsburg family, and was a younger brother of Emperor Charles V. In 1521 Ferdinand received the Austrian duchies from Charles, and he often acted as his brother's agent in Germany. In 1526 Ferdinand became king of Hungary and Bohemia. In 1531 he was elected king of the Germans. In the war that Charles waged against the Lutherans, Ferdinand was a mediator and helped negotiate the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. Charles abdicated in 1556, leaving Spain and the Netherlands to his son Philip and the Holy Roman Empire to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand II(1578–1637), emperor 1619–37. He became king of Bohemia in 1617, king of Hungary in 1618, and then succeeded his cousin Matthias as emperor. The Protestant nobles of Bohemia revolted because they feared that Ferdinand, a Catholic, would try to impose his religious beliefs on them. This revolt opened the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). Ferdinand defeated the Protestant forces in Austria and Bohemia. When he tried to end Protestantism in Germany, he was opposed by a coalition of German principalities, France, and Sweden. Ferdinand died before the prolonged war ended in defeat for the empire.
Ferdinand III(1608–1657), emperor 1637–57. He was the son of Ferdinand II. He became king of Hungary in 1625 and of Bohemia in 1627. In 1634 Ferdinand became nominal commander of the imperial armies. He succeeded his father as emperor in 1637. He wanted to end the Thirty Years' War but was unwilling to grant religious liberty to Protestants. Ferdinand finally had to accept the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which virtually ended the central authority of the Holy Roman Empire. Ferdinand was a cultured man and composed music.
Spain
Ferdinand(Spanish: Fernando), called The Catholic (1452–1516). He was the son of King John II of Aragon, who gave him the kingdom of Sicily in 1468. In 1474 he married Isabella of Castile and León (1451–;1504), ruling with her as Ferdinand V. On his father's death in 1479 he became Ferdinand II of Aragon, and by conquest in 1504 he became Ferdinand II of Naples. On Isabella's death he had to yield the crown of Castile and León to their daughter Juana, but after she became insane in 1506 Ferdinand was her regent.
In 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada. In the same year they sent Christopher Columbus on the voyage that led to the European discovery of America and to the beginning of a vast overseas empire. In 1512 Ferdinand seized Navarre, and then became ruler of all Spain. Under him Spain became the strongest country of Europe.
Ferdinand was unscrupulous and ungenerous but was able and efficient as a ruler. He suppressed banditry, weakened the nobles, and curtailed the powers of the Cortes (assembly). Ferdinand extended royal authority and promoted national unification. He also expelled the Jews and Muslims who would not accept Christianity and introduced the Inquisition to seek out heretics.
FerdinandVI (1713–1759), king 1746–59. He was the son of Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain. Ferdinand kept Spain at peace and helped to restore moderate prosperity.
Ferdinand VII(1784–1833), king 1808 and 1814–33. In 1808 he became king when his father, Charles IV, was forced to abdicate, but he soon was taken prisoner by Napoleon and was compelled to renounce the throne. Napoleon then made his own brother Joseph king of Spain.
In 1814 Ferdinand was released and restored to the throne. He revoked the liberal constitution that the Cortes had approved. His reactionary rule provoked a revolt in 1820. Ferdinand was forced to restore the liberal constitution and was then held a virtual prisoner. Other autocratic monarchs became alarmed, and in 1823 they authorized France to crush the Spanish liberals. Freed and restored to power, Ferdinand again revoked the constitution and took cruel revenge on his enemies. It was during these turbulent times that nearly all of Spain's American colonies broke away from the mother country.
The heir to the throne was Don Carlos, the king's brother. But in 1830 Ferdinand's fourth wife gave birth to a daughter, Isabella. Ferdinand then revoked the Salic Law, which forbade females to succeed to the throne. After Ferdinand's death in 1833 there was a civil war between the Carlists (followers of Don Carlos) and those who supported Isabella.
Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I(Italian: Ferrante), (1751–1825), king 1816–25. He was Ferdinand IV of Naples and Ferdinand III of Sicily. A member of the Bourbon family, he received the two kingdoms in 1759 from his father, who gave them up when he became Charles III of Spain.
Ferdinand's rule was tyrannical and oppressive. He strongly opposed the republican spirit of the French Revolution and sent an army against the French-sponsored republic in Rome in 1798. Twice Ferdinand was forced into exile (1798–99 and 1806–15) by French invasions of Naples. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 Ferdinand returned to Naples. In 1816 he proclaimed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, consisting of the island of Sicily and southern Italy. In 1820 a revolution forced him to grant a liberal constitution, which he revoked when an Austrian army came to his aid. He then adopted a policy of savage persecution and oppression.
Ferdinand II(1810–1859), king 1830–59. He was the grandson of Ferdinand I. His oppressive rule caused many revolts, all of which were put down. The 1848 revolution ended only after some of the large cities had been bombarded, and thereafter Ferdinand was called “King Bomba.” A reign of terror followed, and many thousands of persons were imprisoned. Ferdinand died two years before his kingdom was absorbed into Italy.
Bulgaria
Ferdinand I(1861–1948), ruling prince 1887–1908, and czar (king) 1908–18. He was the youngest son of Duke Augustus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a German duchy. As a youth Ferdinand was an officer in the Austrian army and studied botany. In 1887 he was elected ruler of Bulgaria, an autonomous principality that was nominally subject to Turkey. The European powers did not recognize Ferdinand until 1896. In 1908 he declared the independence of Bulgaria and assumed the title of czar.
Ferdinand arranged an alliance of Balkan states that precipitated the First Balkan War (1912–13), and Bulgaria gained large territories from Turkey. Ferdinand then quarreled with his former allies. In the Second Balkan War (1913) Bulgaria fought alone against its former allies and Romania and Turkey. It was overwhelmed and lost most of the land it had gained. When World War I broke out Ferdinand hesitated but in 1915 he joined Germany and Austria-Hungary. Again his country was defeated. At the end of the war in 1918 Ferdinand abdicated in favor of his son Boris. He lived in retirement in Coburg.
Romania
Ferdinand I(1865–1927), king 1914–27. He was the son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a family related to the German imperial dynasty. He was the nephew of Carol I, the first king of Romania, and in 1889 was named crown prince and heir presumptive to the throne. Queen Marie (1875–1938), his wife, was a British princess and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Ferdinand was commander in chief of Romanian forces during the Second Balkan War (1913). He succeeded his uncle in 1914. During World War I he joined the Allies in 1916. The Romanian armies were defeated by the Germans, and most of the country was overrun. Early in 1918 Romania had to sign a harsh treaty, but it was negated by the Allied victory.
As a result of the war, Romania gained Transylvania, Bessarabia, Bucovina, and part of the Banat. In 1922 Ferdinand was crowned king of all Romanians. Agrarian reforms were adopted, and Ferdinand was the first landholder to hand over his estates to the peasants. His oldest son, Carol, renounced his right to the throne in 1925. When Ferdinand died he was succeeded by his grandson Michael.