Ferdinand (Karl Leopold Maria) (b. Feb. 26, 1861, Vienna, Austria—d. Sept. 10, 1948, Coburg, Ger.) King of Bulgaria (1908-18). Elected prince of Bulgaria in 1887, he proclaimed Bulgaria’s indepen¬ dence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and assumed the title of king or tsar. He spearheaded the formation of the Balkan League (1912), which led to the first Balkan War. Bulgaria was defeated in the second Balkan War (1913), and Ferdinand’s resentments against his former allies determined Bulgaria’s participation in World War I on the side of the Central Pow¬ ers. Following his country’s military defeat in 1918, he was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Boris III.
Ferdinand I (b. March 10, 1503, Alcala de Henares, Spain—d. July 25, 1564, Vienna, Hapsburg domain)
Holy Roman emperor (1558-64).
The brother of Emperor Charles V, he was Charles’s deputy in the Hab¬ sburg German lands (1522-58). In 1526 he took possession of Bohemia without difficulty, but he faced rival claimants in Hungary and fought periodically against the Ottoman Empire, finally agreeing in 1562 to pay tribute to the Ottoman sultan for Austria’s share of Hungary. Ferdi¬ nand helped Charles defeat the Prot¬ estant Schmalkaldic League, and he later compromised on the Protestant issue and signed the Peace of Augs¬ burg (1555), ending the era of reli¬ gious strife in Germany. Elected emperor after Charles’s abdication, which separated the Habsburg domains into Spanish and Austrian parts, Ferdinand centralized the imperial administration.
Ferdinand I (b. Jan. 2/12, 1751, Naples—d. Jan. 4, 1825, Naples) King of the Two Sicilies (1816-25). He became king of Naples in 1759, as Fer¬ dinand IV, when his father ascended the Spanish throne as Charles III. A weak ruler, he was greatly influenced by his wife, Maria Carolina of Aus¬ tria (1752-1814). He engaged Naples in the Austro-English coalition against the French Revolution in 1793. The French then invaded Naples, and he fled to Sicily (1798-99, 1806-16). He returned to Naples in 1816
Fennec (Fennecus zerda)
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Ferdinand I, engraving by Barthel Beham, 1531
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666 i Ferdinand II ► Fermanagh
after the fall of Napoleon, as king of the united Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His despotic rule led to an uprising in 1820, after which he was forced to grant a constitution. With Austria’s aid, he overthrew the con¬ stitutional government in 1821.
Ferdinand II known as Ferdinand the Catholic Spanish Fernando el Catolico (b. March 10, 1452, Sos, Aragon—d. Jan. 23, 1516) King of Aragon from 1479, king of Castile (as Ferdinand V) from 1474 (joint sovereign with Queen Isabella I until 1504), king of Sicily (as Ferdinand II, 1468-1516), and king of Naples (as Ferdinand III, 1503— 16). The son of John II of Aragon (1398-1479), Ferdinand married Isa¬ bella of Castile in 1469 and fought to impose his authority over the nobles in the two kingdoms. As part of an effort to modernize Castile, they banned all religions other than Roman Catholicism, leading to the Span¬ ish Inquisition (1478) and the expulsion of the Jews (1492). Conquest of Granada in 1492 made it possible to support Christopher Columbus’s voy¬ ages to the New World. Ferdinand furthered his expansionary policies in the Mediterranean and in Africa. After the conquest of Naples in 1503, during the Italian Wars, Spain rivaled France as the most powerful state in Europe. By uniting the Spanish kingdoms into the nation of Spain, Fer¬ dinand began Spain’s entry into the modem period of imperial expansion.
Ferdinand II (Aragon) See Ferdinand V
Ferdinand II (b. July 9, 1578, Graz, Styria—d. Feb. 15, 1637, Vienna) Holy Roman emperor (1619-37), archduke of Austria, king of Bohemia (1617—19, 1620-27) and king of Hungary (1618-25). A year after he was recognized by the Bohemian Diet as king, they deposed him and elected Frederick V, an event that effectively marked the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. After annihilating the rebel army in 1620, he greatly reduced the Diet’s power. A rigidly Catholic ruler, he forcibly Catholicized Bohe¬ mia and suppressed Protestantism throughout his lands. He maintained much of his power through the victories of Albrecht W.E. von Wallen¬ stein but later concluded a compromise peace with the Protestant princes. He was the leading champion of the Catholic Counter-Reformation and of absolutist rule in the Thirty Years’ War.
Ferdinand II (b. Jan. 12, 1810, Palermo, Sicily—d. May 22, 1859, Caserta) King of the Two Sicilies (1830-59). He followed his father, Fran¬ cis I, as king and initially instituted reforms, but his rule gradually became authoritarian, and he severely repressed a number of liberal and national revolts. His heavy bombardment of Sicilian cities in 1848 earned him the name “King Bomba.” His government’s increasingly absolute character denied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies a role in the Risorgimento and caused its collapse and incorporation into Italy in 1860.
Ferdinand III (b. July 13, 1608, Graz, Inner Austria—d. April 2, 1657, Vienna) Holy Roman emperor (1637-57), archduke of Austria (1621-57), king of Hungary (1625-57) and king of Bohemia (1627-57). Denied command of the Habsburg armies in the Thirty Years' War, Ferdinand con¬ spired to overthrow Gen. Albrecht W.E. von Wallenstein, whom he replaced as commander (1634-35). His leadership of the so-called peace party at the imperial court led to the Peace of Prague in 1635. As emperor from 1637, he refused to allow religious freedom in his own domains, but he compromised with Europe’s Protestant powers and agreed to the Peace of Westphalia, ending 30 years of religious strife in central Europe.
Ferdinand VI Spanish Fernando (b. Sept. 23, 1713, Madrid, Spain—d. Aug. 10, 1759, Villaviciosa de Odon) King of Spain (1746- 59). He was the second son of Philip V and his first wife, Marie-Louise. The influence of his father’s second wife, Isabella Farnese, kept Ferdinand out of politics during his father’s reign. During his own reign he tried to avoid conflicts while relying on his father’s minister to bring about reforms. Ferdinand, the second Bourbon Spanish king, and his wife, Maria Barbara, were patrons of the arts and learning. On his death, the crown passed to his half brother, Charles III.
Ferdinand VII Spanish Fernando (b. Oct. 14, 1784, El Escorial, Spain—d. Sept. 29, 1833, Madrid) King of Spain (1808, 1813-33). He became king briefly in 1808 after the French invasion of Spain forced the abdication of his father, Charles IV. Napoleon soon replaced him as king with Joseph Bonaparte and held Ferdinand in France (1808-13). The Span¬ ish populace rose against the French invaders in the name of Ferdinand, who became known as “the Desired.” In 1812 independent Spaniards adopted a liberal constitution, which Ferdinand overthrew on his return as king in 1813 to rule in an absolutist style. His reign saw the loss of most of Spain’s possessions in the Americas. He abolished the Salic Law
of Succession to allow his daughter (the future Isabella II) instead of his brother (Don Carlos [1788-1855]) to succeed him, which triggered the opposition movement, Carusm.
Ferdinand the Catholic See Ferdinand V
FerdowsI \for-'dau-se\ or Firdusi or FirdousI rfor-'dii-seV orig. Abu al-Qasim Mansur (b. c. 935, near Tus, Iran—d. c. 1020, Tus) Persian poet. Though many legends surround his name, few facts are known about his life. He gave the final and enduring form to the Persian national epic, the Shah-nameh (completed c. 1010; “Book of Kings”), a poem based mainly on an earlier prose history. His language is still readily intelligible to modern Iranians, who regard the poem’s nearly 60,000 couplets as a sonorous, majestic evocation of a glorious past. He reportedly worked on the poem for 35 years to earn a dowry for his only daughter.