Ferdinand I, King Of Naples on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Ferdinand I (2 June 1424 – 25 January 1494), also known as Ferrante, was
Ferdinand was born on 2 June 1424 in 
The recognition of the rights of succession Ferrante was sealed by the Papal bull Regnans in altissimis issued by
The advanced age, the many sorrows suffered and moreover the melancholy for having understood that King John II of Aragon would not have conquered the kingdom of Naples led the pope to his death in August 1458, without having achieved his goal.
Ferrante, relieved of the Pope's death, immediately sent
The whole Principato Citra,
State-owned cities gained increasing importance as it imposed greater controls on baronial power. In the kingdom the Jews, protected by King Ferrante, carried out a notable artisanal and commercial activity. It was an important moment for municipal freedoms. The king himself granted statutes to state-owned cities and ratified those granted by the barons, favoring the growth of an urban aristocracy as a counterweight to the feudal nobility.
Furthermore, in 1466, in order to prevent the abandonment of the lands with its inevitable consequences, harmful to the tax authorities and to the well-being of the
Ferrante, at the insistence of the King of France Louis XI and driven by the fame of his integrity, had the monk
After this episode, on 10 February the king imprisoned the Prince of
King Ferrante was of medium height, had a full head of brown hair, was dark-faced, and had a beautiful forehead and a proportionate waist. He was very robust and it was said that he was even endowed with superhuman strength, to the point that one day - as it is said - going to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine to listen to mass, he met an angry bull sowing seeds in Piazza del Mercato and stopped him by grabbing him by a horn.
Ferrante was very graceful in reasoning, shrewd, modest, and patient to suffer things of his contrary genius, ready and grateful in giving an audience, resolute in negotiations, and a very right simulator. He was gifted with great courage and remarkable political ability. The buffoons were very welcome to him, and he gave them many thanks on a few occasions. He was a lover of hunting, especially the art of falconry. He was courteous and liberal, as for example, one day he donated 300 horses to a Genoese friend of his, called Olietto de Tiesso..
This sovereign was adorned with many letters and well versed in law, and he considered this science more necessary than any other for the rulers of peoples. He especially loved men of graceful mottos and poets and it is said that at their request he forgave those guilty of serious crimes. Ferrante greatly protected the sciences and letters and with great royal generosity he lavished on the men who were lovers of them and granted extensive privileges and aid to poor scholars. He was very fond of books, so much so that his library, called Aragonese, was celebrated as one of the main ones of those times. He was, as mentioned, a patron of the arts and a lover of letters, in fact he wrote a book containing someepistles and very elegant prayers called Militari, which was published in 1486, where his good taste for good letters can be seen. Pietro Napoli Signorelli cites two other letters with praise, one called Audiat hodierna die and the other Studebo quantum potero.
Although Sicily after the death of Alfonso I passed under the reign of Giovanni, King Ferrante wanted to make use of the title of King of Sicily, in fact in all the pragmatics and edicts read: Ferdinandus Arag. DG Rex Siciliae, Hierus, Ungariae, Valentiae etc.
Gaetano Canzano Avarna describes him as "selfish and ruthless, when he could promise himself some pleasure, he gladly obtained it, often at the expense of other people's unhappiness, not being scrupulous in this for that kind of hatred he had conceived for his fellow men, to whom he was happy to try those same goads that he himself had tried ". Indeed, if he generously remunerated those who had been loyal to his cause, such as Count Honored II Caetani, he was on the other hand severe, vindictive and cruel towards his enemies, and often resorted to deception and false promises in order to lure them in.
He organized numerous weddings of poor maidens and had a very rich tapestry that had been the property of Queen Giovanna II. After the King's death, the Duke of Ferrara bought it, who, seeing it by the Emperor Charles V in Reggio, in the Palazzo di Alfonso d'Este, was very amazed. Don Ferrante, with his virtues, left a Kingdom that he had led to greater greatness, perhaps more than any other sovereign who would have governed it, for which many famous writers mentioned him in their famous writings.
Ferrante was also very attached to music, for which he showed real enthusiasm. In fact, he constantly sought singers educated at the Burgundy school and expert organ builders, all who received a warm welcome in his court. Among the numerous personalities present in his court chapel we remember the Flemish music theorist and composer Johannes Tinctoris. Ferrante himself is credited with a certain skill as an instrumentalist.
Like his father, Ferrante was also a man of great faith: attached to religious ceremonial, he professed the same devotion to the cult of the Virgin, washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday and attended the mass on his knees.
He was modest in eating and in his manner of presenting himself, although elegant in his ways and in dressing. He inherited his father's love for ceremonial and magnificence, as evidenced by the welcome given to a Burgundian embassy in 1472, one of the greatest manifestations of princely splendor of the time, according to Pontano, and the celebrations on the occasion of the marriage of the Duke of Calabria with Ippolita Maria Sforza.
He was fascinated, like other princes, by the sumptuous ceremonies of the Orders of chivalry, and having control of the Aragonese Order of the Giara, also known as the Giglio, he also founded the Order of the Ermine with the motto "Malo mori quam foedari", which conferred with liberality, receiving Orders such as the Golden Fleece and the Garter in exchange. His youthful passion for the more mundane aspects of cavalry, tournaments, and horseback riding lasted well beyond maturity, helping him to maintain physical strength.
He was a very passionate man, he had an almost pathological attraction towards young women and, despite the numerous lovers and concubines, he loved very much his wife Isabella di Chiaramonte, a woman of exceptional virtues, whose death greatly afflicted him. As a father he was very present and very fond of his offspring, especially known is the strong affection shown for his daughters and for the eldest Eleonora.
He loved children very much and liked to surround himself with them. In fact, when Eleonora herself went to visit Naples in 1477, Ferrante persuaded her to leave at his court, in addition to her newborn, also his little granddaughter Beatrice, who later grew up like a daughter. He also took under his own protection the two orphans of Count Don Diego Cavaniglia, or Troiano and Nicolina, as he had also protected Diego himself, who was very soon orphaned of a father.
When he imprisoned Marino Marzano for having betrayed him in the conspiracy of the barons, Ferrante, moved by tenderness towards his family, took care of them himself and particularly of his niece Camilla, who was educated at his court. The little Maria Balsa, daughter of the despot of Serbia or more probably of the lord of Misia, had also found refuge at his court, who together with her aunt Andronica Cominata fled from Greece invaded by the Turks.
Ferrante managed to lay the foundations for the formation of an embryo of a modern state thanks to the creation of new political institutions such as the Collateral Council and the consolidation of financial structures such as the Regia Camera della Sommaria.
The skills of Ferrante and his diplomats, skilled in weaving alliances in order to achieve Neapolitan hegemony in the system of Italian states, the fruits of the sovereign's economic strategy with the introduction of the art of silk and printing, politics of promotion and cultural attraction, the severe exercise of power also through the repression of the conspiracy of the barons led The Kingdom of Naples, with intellectuals of the caliber of Pontano, Panormita and others, to participate as a protagonist in Humanism and the Renaissance.
He was responsible for a first expansion of the walls of Naples, which was followed by a second one in 1499. The Aragonese wall of Naples, in fact, was begun under his reign, in June 1484. Ferrante surrounded Naples with walls towards the eastern side and reduced the walls erected by Giovanna II from the Dogana del Sale to the Corregge road into a larger form, today's Via Medina. On 15 June 1488 he placed the first stone of them behind the Carmelo monastery, where a tower was built, called Torre Spinelli, which took its name from the architect who had erected it, Francesco Spinelli. The walls were led up to the monastery of San Giovanni in Carbonara, who at that time was locked inside the city walls and gave the direction of this work to the architect Carlo Majano, who added the Lavinaro road to the city. In 1476, when he moved the customs office near the port, he ordered that the arsenal be moved under the walls of the royal palace.
Considered one of the greatest expressions of fifteenth-century defensive architecture, the walls stemmed from the need to strengthen the protections of the capital, especially in the aftermath of the Ottoman capture of Otranto in 1480. It replaced the obsolete Angevin curtain with a structure more responsive to the new defensive needs, deriving from the introduction of artillery. The new structure started from the Durazzo castle of the Sperone, of which the Brava tower is still recognizable today, with the Torre Il Trono. The development of the new fortification, delimiting the eastern side of the capital, was about two kilometers long and included twenty powerful cylindrical towers embanked at the base, including four gates. The thickness of the sections of curtain connecting the aforementioned towers reached in some cases even 7 meters and consisted of blocks of yellow tuff. The side facing the countryside was covered with blocks of high-strength gray piperno. Each tower was completely filled so that it could offer maximum passive resistance to the firing of the siege bombers. During the sixteenth century, in the viceregal period, the walls on the eastern side survived intact the renovation that took place under Pedro of Toledo, which led to the construction of a modern bastion wall to delimit the city. Contrary to the total demolition suffered by the latter starting from the mid-eighteenth century, the eastern walls resisted substantially intact until the post-unitary period and then underwent a partial demolition during the rehabilitation works.
Under his reign the construction of the Castel Nuovo was completed, the magnificent palace of Poggioreale was commissioned by his son Alfonso and the beautiful Palazzo Como was erected, now home to the Filangieri Museum (built between 1464 and 1490), Porta Nolana, the Palazzo Diomede Carafa (1470), the facade of the Palazzo Sanseverino, now the Church of Gesù Nuovo (1470), as well as the Porta Capuana (defined as the most beautiful door of the Renaissance together with the door of San Pietro in Perugia).
Don Ferrante reformed the studies of the university of Naples,. reopened in 1465 with a teaching staff of twenty-two members, supporting it much more than his father had, and allowed the study to be added to the traditional course of study humanistic of Greek and Latin, even if, in reality, its purpose had perhaps been to restore the university monopoly of higher education under strict state control, as its founder Frederick II had conceived it . In 1478 he had such confidence in the possibilities offered by the University of Naplesto prohibit his subjects from studying or seeking a doctorate outside the Kingdom. Teachers were also recruited into the Kingdom and, among the few foreigners appointed, only the Florentine Francesco Pucci found the Neapolitan environment tempting enough to remain there forever. Furthermore, Ferrante managed to ensure that the university flourished through learned professors; and for this purpose he invited Costantino Lascaris with his gracious diploma to come and teach the Greek language, assigning him a large salary corresponding to the fame of his name. Ferrante, with a Pragmatic entitled De scolaribus doctorandis, ordered his subjects to promote sciences in the capital and wanted the city of Aquila to grant itself the privilege of license to open a Studium.
Ferrante promoted Renaissance culture and art with his patronage, surrounding himself with numerous artists and writers who flourished in his kingdom such as: Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Bartolomeo Platina, Jacopo della Pila, Raffaele Volaterrano, Antonio Fiorentino della Cava, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello, Francesco Del Tuppo, Giovanni Giocondo, Giovanni Francesco Mormando, Francesco Laurana, Pietro da Milano, Cola Rapicano, Cristoforo Majorana, Tommaso and Giovan Tommaso Malvito, Ermolao Barbaro the Younger and the Elder, Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, Bernardo Rossellino, Francesco Pagano, Riccardo Quartararo, Pietro Befulco, Novello da San Lucano, Guido Mazzoni, Niccolò Antonio known as Colantonio, Angiolillo Arcuccio, Antonio De Ferraris, Poliziano, Teodoro Gaza, Cola Rapicano, Pietro Alemanno, Giovanni Pontano, Antonio Beccadelli and many others. The Panormita was the second secretary of the King and President of the Chamber. Il Pontano succeeded Beccadelli as rector of the renowned Academy of Naples founded by his predecessor (one of the first academies founded in Europe, the first of the Kingdom of Naples and the oldest in Italystill existing), of which he was the main representative and which was later named after him, whose most illustrious students were: Sannazaro, Antonio Flaminio, Cardinal Sadoleto, Giano Anisio, Giovanni Cotta, Andrea Sabatini, Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva and many others.
Ferrante completed the construction and decoration of the Castel Nuovo using artisans of almost exclusively Italian origin such as Pietro da Milano, one of the artists called by Alfonso I, who returned with Francesco Laurana in 1465 to complete the triumphal arch and to make some busts of the royal family. By order of Ferrante, as a lasting warning, the splendid bronze door of the Castel Nuovo, called La Vittoriosa, was cast in bronze, through the artillery removed by the enemies, with the representation of the king's triumph in the conspiracy of the barons, the work of Guglielmo Dello Monaco, a Parisian who had served Alfonso as a manufacturer of cannons, clocks and bells. On the door appear in six pictures expressed in bas - relief some events of the conspiracy: in the first of them, from the left side of the beholder, the apparent peace of the Duke of Sessa is scrolled, with the verses that say: "PRINCEPS CVM IACOBO CVM DIOFEBO QVEM DOLOSE / VT REGEM PERMANT COLLOQVIVM SIMVLANT". Likewise in the first one on the right is represented the King who valiantly puts the conspirators to flight with the verses: "HOS REX MARTIPOTENS ANIMOSIOR HECTORE CLARO / SENSIT VT INSIDIAS ENSE MICANTE FVGAT". The other paintings represent the siege with the taking of Troy and the surrender of Acquaviva, with the carved verses that say: TROIA DEDIT OUR REQVIEM FINEMQ (VE) LABORI / IN QVA HOSTEM FVDI FORTITER AC POPVLI "; " HOSTEM TROIANIS FERNANDVS VICIT IN ARVIS / SICVT POMPEVM CESAR IN EHACTIS"; " HINC TROIAM VERSVS MAGNO CONCVSSA FEAR / CASTRA MOVENT HOSTES NE SVBITO PEREANT"; "AQVA DIA FORTEM CEPIT REX FORTIOR VRBEM/ ANDEGAVOS PELLENS VIRIBVS EXIMII".
Towards the end of his life, Ferrante also planned the construction of a large building, a huge Renaissance-style palace perhaps intended to accommodate the administration and the court of justice, but which was never built.
Ferrante erected the Porta del Carmine and that of San Gennaro and for this work he spent 28466 ducats, on his order the table bridges placed in front of each gate of the city were removed and on the side of the Carmelo church he had that door built that can be seen adorned of travertine stones, he had the Porta Capuana transported, which was near the Castel Capuano on the sides of the church of Santa Caterina in Formiello, where it was magnificently built with sculptures worked in marvelous fine marbles, he had an armory built such as to be able to contain weapons for sixty thousand soldiers, completed the famous tower that now serves as the bell tower of the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore begun by Charles II, for his arrangement the cenacle of the friars of Santa Maria la Nova was painted by the brothers Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello and he also had many places of worship repaired, adorning them with precious furnishings.
To his Christian piety we owe the reconstruction of the Cathedral Church of Naples, which almost completely collapsed due to the terrible earthquakes of 5 and 30 December 1456, causing the death of thirty thousand people in the capital. He wanted many Neapolitan noble families to participate in this reconstruction, which had patronage chapels there, allowing them to place their noble weapons on each pillar of the chapels to rebuild. In Novello da San Lucano, he entrusted him with the reconstruction of the basilica of San Domenico Maggiore, after the ruin of a large part of the building due to the previous earthquake. The De Dominicihe says that the pillars were placed by him, the ceiling was renovated, and the ornaments of the chapel were completed, but in the biography of the del Donzello, contained in his work, he also attributes to them the direction of some works. Terminio adds that, as an example to Ferrante, many nobles contributed to the expense of new pillars, at the top of which they placed their insignia.
In 1486, Ferrante commissioned the architect and military engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini to expand the fortress of Taranto built by the Byzantines, in order to replace the medieval type of towers conceived for the plumbing defense. In fact, the use of cannons following the discovery of gunpowder required wide and low circular towers to cushion the impact of cannonballs, equipped with ramps or slides that allowed the pieces to be moved from one tower to the other. 'other, as well as equipped with a large and sturdy parapet with specific openings for the guns. The new fortification was to include seven towers, four of which joined to form a quadrilateral, and the remaining three aligned along the moat to the Mar Piccolo. The four towers were respectively dedicated to San Cristofalo, San Lorenzo, the Bandiera and the Vergine Annunziata.
Thus was born the Aragonese castle of the city, and in 1491 the triangular-shaped ravelin between the Torre della Bandiera and the San Cristofalo tower was added on the side facing the Great Sea. The castle was completed in 1492, as can be seen from the engraving of a walled plaque on the "Porta Paterna" together with the Aragonese coat of arms quartered with the tripartite of Angiò family:
''"Ferdinandus Rex Divi Alphonsi Filius Divi Ferdinandi Nepos Aragonius Arcem Ha(n)c Vetustate Collabente(m) Ad Im(pe)tus Tormentorum Substine(n)dos Quae (Ni)mio Feruntur Spiritu In Ampliorem Firmioremq(ue) Formam Restituit Millesimo CCCCLXXXXII"''.
"King Ferdinand of Aragon, son of the divine Alfonso and grandson of the divine Ferdinand, rebuilt this castle in a larger and more solid form due to old age, so that it could withstand the impetus of the bullets that is endured with maximum vigor - 1492."
Under Ferrante, the very rich royal library founded by Alfonso in Castel Capuano continued to grow at an impressive rate, thanks to purchases, gifts and the confiscation of the collections of the rebel barons.
The use of Neapolitan as the official language of the Kingdom promoted in the court the fashion of a poetry in which the cultured and the popular tradition merged, in a way not unlike what happened in Florence with Lorenzo de 'Medici. This culture also showed more accessible outside of court, spreading the literacy among the nobility and encouraging the growth of a popular literature that finds its best example in the Rookie of Masuccio Salerno.
The art for which Ferrante showed real enthusiasm, and in which his tastes were closest to those of Alfonso, was music : he continually sought out singers educated at the Burgundy school; expert organ builders received a warm welcome and in the early seventies Johannes Tinctoris arrived in Naples to complete the array of talents active in the court chapel and to develop the tradition of secular polyphony, so that the Neapolitan city excelled over the whole Italy for most of the century. Johannes Tinctoris, who defined himself "chaplain and musician of the king of Sicily", performed important functions in the service of Ferrante: chaplain cantor (archicapellanus), instrumentalist of ribeca and vihuela de arco (later known as viola da gamba ), tutor, composer and legal counsel. Tinctoris had an intellectually prominent role at court and in October 1487 he was sent to Northern Europe to hire new singers for the royal chapel. Due to his excellent knowledge of languages and law, King Ferrante also ordered him to draw up an Italian translation of the articles of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Articuli et ordinatione of the Order of the Golden Fleece).
Furthermore, Ferrante established in Naples the first musical school in Italy and one of the first in Europe, which involved the major musicians of the time such as: Bernhard Hykaert, the aforementioned Tinctoris, Guglielmo Guarnier and Franchino Gaffurio, who from 1475 to 1478 covered the position of Master of the Chapel of the Royal Palace. In this period the works of Greek musical treatises such as Aristoxenus, author of the fundamental Elementa harmonica and Elementa rhytmica, Aristide Quintiliano, author of a De musica, fundamental for the in-depth treatment of the subject and " Institutio oratoria ", in which the author parallels rhetorical art, with the musical composition, which is able to arouse emotions, prodrome of what will be the theory of affects in the Neapolitan music school of the eighteenth century. This school founded by Ferrante was very important for the development of music in Italy but above all it determined the foundations of the nascent Neapolitan Music School.
His diplomacy was very expensive and to strengthen the finances, already proven by the patronage of Alfonso I, Ferrante introduced an austerity regime in the court and in the state apparatus, to facilitate commercial traffic for his vassals, he opened it no less in east that in the west, encouraged businesses and traders by launching a series of initiatives aimed at increasing trade exchanges with Venice, Pisa and Spain; it favored the migration from the countryside to the city and allowed the immigration of numerous Jews expelled from Spain through thedecree of the Alhambra issued by the Catholic kings. One of the refugees, Don Isaac Abrabanel, even received a position at the Neapolitan court of Ferrante which he also held under his successor, Alfonso II. Overall, the Neapolitan population increased rapidly and it was necessary to expand the city walls.
Among the many graces and wide privileges granted to Brindisi, he also gave her, for the loyalty shown to him, the privilege of minting coins, a privilege that he also granted to Capua, Chieti, Sulmona and L'Aquila. He ordered the latter to strike coins not different from those of the Neapolitan mint.
During his reign, the Royal House of Naples had nothing to envy in terms of splendor to the Courts of the major princes of Europe, given that Ferrante wanted to increase and introduce many arts, such as the art of silk weaving, introduced in Naples by Roger II of Sicily, the art of working wool in 1480, the art of goldsmiths, and the art of weaving gold drapes and brocades. To perfect it, he called Marino di Cataponte and Florence from Venice Francesco di Nero, paying them generously.
On 29 September 1465 Ferrante founded the famous Order of the Ermine, which was awarded to the same sovereign, his son Alfonso, his nephew Ferrandino and many other important personalities, such as Ercole I d'Este, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Ludovico il Moro, Federico from Montefeltro and Charles I of Burgundy.
File:Armellino.jpg, Neapolitan coin (Armellino) of Ferrante
File:Cavallo (moneta)1.jpg, Cavallo (neapolitan coin) of Ferrante
File:Coronato 1458.jpg, Neapolitan Coronato of Ferrante, 1458
File:Coronato 1462.jpg, Neapolitan Coronato of Ferrante, 1462
File:Coronato 1488.jpg, Neapolitan Coronato of Ferrante, 1488
king of Naples
The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first Sicilian Vespers, separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501)
House of Anjou
...
from 1458 to 1494.
The only son, albeit illegitimate, of Alfonso the Magnanimous
Alfonso the Magnanimous (Alfons el Magnànim in Catalan) (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfons V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfons I) from 1442 until his death. He was in ...
, he was one of the most influential and feared monarchs in Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
at the time and an important figure of the Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...
. In his thirty years of reign, he brought peace and prosperity to Naples. Its foreign
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
and diplomatic policy aimed at assuming the task of regulating the events of the peninsula in order not to disturb the political balance given by the Treaty of Lodi
The Treaty of Lodi, or Peace of Lodi, was a peace agreement to put an end to the Wars in Lombardy between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Milan, signed in the city of Lodi, Lombardy, Lodi on 9 April 1454.
The historical relevance of the ...
, to affirm the hegemony of the Kingdom of Naples over the other Italian states
Italy, up until its unification in 1861, was a conglomeration of city-states, republics, and other independent entities. The following is a list of the various Italian states during that period. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
and to tighten through its diplomats and marriages of his numerous legitimate and natural children, a dense network of alliances and relationships with Italian and foreign sovereigns, earned him the fame and the nickname of "Judge of Italy", in addition to being recognized as a generous patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
.
He issued various social laws that in fact undermined the excessive power of the Barons, favoring small artisans and peasants. This work of modernization and the resistance he put up against them led to the outbreak of the famous revolt, which was subsequently suffocated.
Ferrante was forced to prove his worth several times before obtaining the throne of Naples. Not only as governor, but also as a military man, as he was forced to recapture his own kingdom, against all conspirators, and during his rule, the kingdom was under constant attack from powers such as the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, the Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...
, and the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
. It can be said that, in general, almost his entire life was spent in war.
Recognized as one of the most powerful political minds of the time, Ferrante was gifted with great courage and remarkable political skills. Completely Italianized, he surrounded himself with numerous artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
s and humanists
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanism" has ...
, completed the paternal building works in the city of Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, and erected new impressive buildings that still adorn it today.
The skills of Ferrante and his diplomats, skilled in weaving alliances in order to achieve Neapolitan hegemony in the system of Italian states, the fruits of the sovereign's economic strategy with the introduction of the art of silk and printing, politics of promotion and cultural attraction, the severe exercise of power through the repression of the conspiracy of the barons led the Kingdom of Naples, with intellectuals of the caliber of Pontano
Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano (), was a Renaissance humanism, humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto, in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after the death of Antonio Beccade ...
, Panormita
Antonio Beccadelli (1394–1471), called Il Panormita (poetic form meaning "The Palermitan"), was an Italian poet, canon lawyer, scholar, diplomat, and chronicler. He generally wrote in Latin. Born in Palermo, he was the eldest son of the merch ...
, and others, to participate as a protagonist in Humanism and the Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
. At that time it possessed the most powerful navy
A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
in the western part of the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
.
Biography
The paternal inheritance
Youth
Ferdinand was born on 2 June 1424 in Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
. His mother, Gueraldona Carlino, was probably a woman of Neapolitan origin who in December 1423 had accompanied Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
on his return to Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, where she later married a certain Gaspar Reverdit of Barcelona.
In order to ensure a good future for his illegitimate son, his father Alfonso had called him to Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. At the behest of the king, on 26 July 1438 the governor de Corella, the bishop Borgia
The House of Borgia ( ; ; Spanish and ; ) was a Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Xàtiva, Kingdom of Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town of Borja, then in the Cro ...
, and the young Ferrante, with their entourage of young Catalan gentlemen, set sail from Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
for Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Alfonso's purpose was to prepare his only son, albeit illegitimate, for the role of heir to the kingdom he was conquering. The whole company landed in Gaeta
Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The city has played ...
on 19 August, where Ferrante was reunited with his father, whom he hardly knew.
A strong emotional bond soon developed between father and son, as Alfonso appreciated the young man's acute intelligence and courage, while Ferrante showed complete reverence for his parent. Alfonso, on 9 September 1438, created Ferrante a knight on the Maddaloni Maddaloni (Neapolitan language, Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, about southeast of Caserta, with stations on the railways from Caserta to Benevento and from Caserta to Naples.
Main sights
Th ...
field where René of Anjou-Valois, challenged to battle, did not appear.
In Naples he had as teachers Valla, Panormita
Antonio Beccadelli (1394–1471), called Il Panormita (poetic form meaning "The Palermitan"), was an Italian poet, canon lawyer, scholar, diplomat, and chronicler. He generally wrote in Latin. Born in Palermo, he was the eldest son of the merch ...
, Borgia, and Gabriele Altilio, who taught him for many years. He also had as tutor
Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects.
A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...
Paris de Puteo who taught him law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
. When the ''Sacro regio consiglio, judicial'' ''authority'' of the kingdom, was established by Alfonso, he was assigned the position of president.
Following the death of his uncle Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
, in April 1439 Ferrante was appointed lieutenant general of the kingdom. On February 17, 1440, King Alfonso, by his own authority, legitimized and declared his son his heir to the throne of Naples, and then, in January 1441, he secured the approval of the parliament of the barons of the kingdom that he had summoned in Benevento
Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...
and which was then transferred to Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. Still in parliament, Alfonso, worried about the succession, promoted a petition, in which the barons, knowing they were doing the king a great pleasure, proposed to establish Don Ferrante as his future successor, with the title of Duke of Calabria
Duke of Calabria was the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu of the royal ...
, usually given to the first-born of the king of Naples. Then Onorato Caetani, with the consent of all, kneeling before the king, begged him to create as Duke of Calabria and his future successor Don Ferrante, and the King with a cheerful face made him answer these words by the secretary:
After this, Don Ferrante Duke of Calabria and successor of the kingdom was shouted with great joy and, on March 3, 1443, the king, accompanied by his son and baronage, went to the Monastery of the Nuns of San Ligoro, where the mass was celebrated with public solemnity and where Alfonso gave the sword in Ferrante's right hand, the flag in his left hand, and placing the ducal circle over his head, ordered everyone to call him Duke of Calabria.
The recognition of the rights of succession Ferrante was sealed by the Papal bull Regnans in altissimis issued by Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Republic of Venice, Venetian, and a nephew ...
in July 1443, and later confirmed in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V (; ; 15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV made him a Cardinal (Catholic Chu ...
. Ferrante in 1444 married the heiress Isabella of Taranto, daughter of Tristan of Clermont
Bartholomew "Tristan" de Clermont-Lodève (1380), Count of Copertino, was a French-born knight who married Catherine Orsini del Balzo, youngest daughter of Mary of Enghien and Raimondo Orsini del Balzo, Prince of Taranto. He was the father of Is ...
and Catherine of Taranto, designated heir of Prince Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo of Taranto, his maternal uncle, who had no children. Isabella was also the niece of Queen Mary of Enghien
Mary of Enghien, also known as Maria d'Enghien (1367 or 1370 – 9 May 1446), was ruling Countess of Lecce from 1384 to 1446 and Queen of Naples and titular Queen of Sicily, Jerusalem and Hungary from 1406 to 1414 by marriage to Ladislaus o ...
who, having married Ladislaus I of Anjou, had therefore been queen of Naples, Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
and the Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
from 1406 to 1414.
War with Florence
In June 1452, King Alfonso declared war onFlorence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, at the request of the Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...
, to divert Florence from helping Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan. Alfonso sent Ferrante with 6,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. Alfonso arranged with Venice to attack Florence while Venice attacked Milan.
Ferrante led this army through Abruzzo
Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...
and was lovingly received throughout the kingdom. In Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
, the Duke's army encamped at the Abbey of San Galgano
The Abbey of Saint Galgano was a Cistercian order, Cistercian Monastery founded in the valley of the river Merse between the towns of Chiusdino and Monticiano, in the province of Siena, region of Tuscany, Italy. Presently, the roofless walls of t ...
. Then the Florentines (whose governor was Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the House of Medici, Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derive ...
) raised the flags of King Charles VII of France
Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious () or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. His reign saw the end of the Hundred Years' War and a ''de facto'' end of the English claims to ...
, and urged that former king René reconquer Naples.
At this time there was an outbreak of disease in the Neapolitan army; Duke Federico of Urbino and many other captains fell ill. Ferrante moved the army to Pitigliano
Pitigliano is a town in the province of Grosseto, located about south-east of the city of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
The town is known as ''the little Jerusale ...
.
On 1 September Ferrante was informed that Foiano had already been taken. When winter came, the war in Tuscany ended. Alfonso negotiated peace and signed a league with Venice and Siena
Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
. On 9 April 1454, Venice and Milan signed the Peace of Lodi
The Treaty of Lodi, or Peace of Lodi, was a peace agreement to put an end to the Wars in Lombardy between the Venetian Republic and the Duchy of Milan, signed in the city of Lodi on 9 April 1454.
The historical relevance of the treaty lies in ...
.
Ferrante returned to Naples via Abruzzo. When he reached the borders of the Kingdom, he discharged the Duke of Urbino and the other captains.
On 28 August 1454 he entered Naples, where he was received under a very rich baldachin
A baldachin, or baldaquin (from ), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent Architecture, architectural feature, particularly over Alta ...
with infinite joy by all the citizens.
On 15 February 1455, Cardinal Domenico Capranica
Domenico Capranica (1400 – 14 July 1458) was an Italian theologian, canonist, statesman, and cardinal.
Life
Cardinal Capranica was born in Capranica Prenestina. His younger brother, Angelo, also became a cardinal. After studies in canon ...
came to Naples on behalf of Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V (; ; 15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV made him a Cardinal (Catholic Chu ...
, to ask Alfonso to join the Italic League
The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...
, an alliance of the major princes and potentates of Italy. Alfonso agreed, and thus established friendship with Milan and Florence as well as Venice and the Papacy.
The arduous Coronation
As established by his father, Ferrante succeeded him on the throne of Naples in 1458, at the age of 35. When he came to power, he had to face many problems:Charles, Prince of Viana
Charles, Prince of Viana () (29 May 1421 – 23 September 1461), sometimes called Charles IV of Navarre, was the eldest son of King John II of Aragon and Queen Blanche I of Navarre. He pre-deceased his father.
Background
His mother was the dau ...
, incited the Neapolitans to acclaim him king, the barons pushed King John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
of the Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
to conquer the kingdom, and after the latter's refusal, they resorted to John of Anjou, son of René, who claimed the kingdom of Naples. The Pope demanded, moreover, that the kingdom be devolved to his Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
. Ferrante had to overcome all these powerful enemies to keep the kingdom strong.
Charles of Viana the "claimant"
Charles, Prince of Viana, the son of King John II of Aragon, claimed that the illegitimate status of Ferrante precluded his ascension to king. While in Naples, through numerous Catalan and Sicilian barons, he conspired to gain the crown, but both the Neapolitan people and many barons, remembering the oath and promises made to Alfonso and to Ferrante, who had not only been legitimized by his father, but also declared legitimate successor by the Holy See, proclaimed: "Long live Re Ferrante our legitimate King" as Ferrante then rode through the city. When the Prince of Viana saw this display, he boarded a ship in Naples, abandoning his supporters, and fled toSicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, with the Catalan barons who had not had fiefs in the kingdom from Alfonso..
The Apparent Coronation
Although he had overcome this obstacle, Ferrante still did not feel safe, since he did not yet haveCallixtus III
Pope Callixtus III (, , ; 31 December 1378 – 6 August 1458), born Alonso de Borja (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 April 1455 to his death, in August 1458.
Borgia spent his early career as a professor ...
on his side, even though he had been his teacher and friend of his father before becoming Pope. The following day he sent ambassadors to the Pope to confirm the investiture of the kingdom, through the following letter.
After having sent the ambassadors to Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Ferrante wanted to anticipate the investiture. After leaving Castel Nuovo he went to the cathedral of the city on horseback, accompanied by the barons of the kingdom, where he was received with applause by Cardinal Rinaldo Piscicello
Rinaldo Piscicello (c1415–1457) (called the Cardinal of Naples) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal.
Biography
Rinaldo Piscicello was born in Naples in 1415 or 1416, the son of Nicola Piscicello and Maria d'Alagni. His mother was ...
, Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
of the city, who, accompanied by the clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, met with him in front of the church choir and immediately after they went to the stairs of the high altar, where kneeling, the Te Deum
The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...
was sung. The cardinal blessed the new sovereign with a pontifical blessing and proclaimed him King of Naples
The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first Sicilian Vespers, separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501)
House of Anjou
...
. After the coronation the trumpets began to sound, while the people shouted: "Long live the King Ferrante". He then rode, accompanied with great magnificence by the baronage and the people towards the seven offices of the Kingdom, then returned to Castel Nuovo. Finding it closed, according to the rite he then called the castellan Arnaldo Sanz, and said to him: "Open", and he replied: "Are you King Don Ferrante thirsty, son of the happy memory of King Don Alfonso?" The King replied: "I am that." The Castellano then asked the barons if the new king was Don Alfonso's son and they all said yes. The Castellano then, in front of all the people, handed the keys of the castle to Ferrante, who returned them to him and ordered to keep the fortress well. After this, the people continued to shout: "Long live the King Don Ferrando".
Clash with Callisto
Pope Callixtus III however, was ill-disposed towards Ferrante; in a papal bull of 12 July, he declared the throne of Naples vacant, not recognizing the succession of Ferrante, because he was the son of a Moorish servant and therefore neither the legitimate nor natural son of Alfonso V of Aragon. In fact, Calixtus aimed to usurp the crown from Ferrante, and grant it to his own nephew, Pedro Luis de Borja, newly installed asDuke of Spoleto
The Duke of Spoleto was the ruler of Spoleto and most of central Italy outside the Papal States during the Early and High Middle Ages (c. 500 – 1300). The first dukes were appointed by the Lombard king, but they were independent in practice. Th ...
. Calixtus had notices posted in various places in the kingdom, where it was reported that upon Alfonso's death, the Kingdom of Naples had devolved to the Papal state. Calixtus offered amnesty to all those who had sworn loyalty to Ferrante, but he ordered all the clergy, barons, cities and peoples of the kingdom, under pain of excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in Koinonia, communion with other members o ...
, not to obey Ferrante or continue to swear loyalty to him.
Ferrante then called the barons and the people to the General Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, who swore loyalty to him, without any rancor. To oppose Pope's plan, in the presence of the nuncio
An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...
, he wrote a response to the papal bull, stating that he was legitimate king by the grace of God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, for the benefit of his father King Alfonso, by acclamation of the barons and cities of the Kingdom and thanks to the concessions of the two previous Popes: Eugene IV and Nicholas V. Ferrante, in this war against Callixtus was able to count on an alliance with the Duke of Milan, not only due the kinship between the two dynasties, but also a bond that existed between them. The pope, always implacable and obstinate, refused any intercession from other rulers; so much so that Ferrante decided to send ambassadors to the Pope in the name of the kingdom. The latter found the pope sick and therefore were never admitted to his audience.
The advanced age, the many sorrows suffered and moreover the melancholy for having understood that King John II of Aragon would not have conquered the kingdom of Naples led the pope to his death in August 1458, without having achieved his goal.
Ferrante, relieved of the Pope's death, immediately sent Francesco II Del Balzo Francesco II Del Balzo, Duke of Andria, (1410 – 8 August 1482) was a southern Italian nobleman.
Biography
Francesco was born in Andria, the son of Guglielmo, second duke of that city, and a daughter of Federico di Brunforte count of Bisceglie. Ar ...
, Duke of Andria, and Antonio d'Alessandro, famous Jurisconsult
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practitione ...
, to ask for the investiture of the new Pope and to render him obedience. Accepted the audience, Pope Pius II
Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464.
Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...
did not want to neglect the interests of the Church: the investiture was granted him, but with many conditions: Ferrante had to pay the unpaid taxes, perpetually help the Pope with every request, return Benevento to the Church and Terracina
Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity.
History Ancient times
Terracina appears in anci ...
, and other conditions agreed in the name of the Pope by Bernardo, Bishop of Spoleto
The Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. Historically, it was the Diocese of Spoleto. Elevated to the status of an archdiocese since 1821, it is a metropolis ( ...
and in the name of the King by Antonio d'Alessandro. All this was confirmed by the bull of Pius II, on November 2, 1458. After the Bull of Investiture, two more were sent: in the first the Pontiff advised Ferrante to send him a Cardinal Legate for the coronation and in the second he revoked the Bull Callixtus III had made against the King.
Ferrante was solemnly crowned on February 4, 1459, in the Cathedral of Barletta and to thank the Pope, in 1461, he wanted Maria, his natural daughter, to marry Antonio Piccolomini nephew of Pius, giving her as a dowry the Duchy of Amalfi
The Duchy of Amalfi () or the Republic of Amalfi was a '' de facto'' independent state centered on the Southern Italian city of Amalfi during the 10th and 11th centuries. The city and its territory were originally part of the larger Duchy of Na ...
, the county of Celano
Celano is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of L'Aquila, central Italy, east of Rome by rail.
Geography
Celano rises on the top of a hill in the territory of Marsica, below the mountain range of Sirente. It faces the valley of Fucino, once ...
and the office of Great executioner for her husband. The problems, however, were not over yet, in fact Ferrante's rival, John of Anjou, aspired to regain the throne of Naples, lost by his father in the war against Alfonso.
The Angevin-Aragonese War (1460-1464)
In order to increase their power, the princes of Taranto and Marino Marzano, prince of Rossano, asked the King to return Antonio Centelles, Marquis ofCrotone
Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy.
Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...
, Giosia Acquaviva, Duke of Atri
Atri or Attri is a Vedic sage, who is credited with composing numerous shlokas to Agni, Indra, and other Vedic deities of Hinduism. Atri is one of the Saptarishi (seven great Vedic sages) in the Hindu tradition, and the one most mentioned in ...
, and Giulio Antonio Acquaviva
Giulio Antonio Acquaviva (c. 1425 – February 7, 1481) was an Italian nobleman and condottiere. He was 7th Duke of Atri and 1st of Teramo, Count of Conversano and San Flaviano and Lord of Padula and Roseto.
Life
Giulio Antonio Acquaviva was bo ...
, Count of Conversano
Conversano (Bari dialect, Barese: ) is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast, at above sea level.
The counts of Conversan ...
, their relatives, to his state. Despite some initial refusals, the King wanted to please them. These united barons decided to urge King John of Aragon to come and conquer the kingdom that belonged to him by legitimate succession after the death of his brother Alfonso V, but King John refused. On the other hand, King Ferrante, having understood the intention of the barons, immediately sent Turco Cicinello and Antonio d'Alessandro to Spain to pray John not to lack love for his nephew the king, since he could say that the Kingdom of Naples was more his than the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon.
These Ambassadors did not encounter much difficulty in propitiating the king, as even though he wanted to conquer Naples, he did not have the necessary military forces. However, they had great difficulty in settling another plague, because Queen Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
, who was the wife of King Alfonso V, died in Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
and left her dowries, amounting to four hundred thousand ducats, to the heir John II. King John claimed that the money should be taken from the treasury that Alfonso had left to the kingdom of Naples and the ambassadors agreed to give it to him in ten years.
Meanwhile, seeing his plan fail, the prince of Taranto attempted another enterprise with the help of the barons and above all of Marino Marzano, who hated Ferrante mortally because the rumor had spread that the king had committed incest with his Eleonora Marino's sister and wife. They decided to call in 1459 John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
, Duke of Anjou, son of King René
René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...
, who was still in Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, to convince him to undertake the enterprise of conquering the throne of Naples. The latter, having received the embassy of the invitation from Marco della Ratta, immediately had galleys and ships armed.
On the other hand, the Prince of Taranto, who as Grand Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peop ...
of the kingdom controlled the entire army, recruited commanders who depended on him and bribed them to embrace his cause. While trying to suppress the first revolts in Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
and Abruzzo, Ferrante received the notice that the Duke John with twenty-two galleys and four large ships had appeared in the marina di Sessa, between the mouth of the Garigliano
The Garigliano () is a river in central Italy.
It forms at the confluence of the rivers Gari (also known as the Rapido) and Liri. Garigliano is actually a deformation of "Gari-Lirano" (which in Italian means something like "Gari from the Liri" ...
and the Volturno
The Volturno (ancient Latin name Volturnus, from ''volvere'', to roll) is a river in south-central Italy.
Geography
It rises in the Abruzzese central Apennines of Samnium near Castel San Vincenzo (province of Isernia, Molise) and flows southe ...
. The Duke John was received by the Prince of Rossano and immediately pushed his army to the port of Naples
The Port of Naples, a port located on the Western coast of Italy, is the 11th largest seaport in Italy having an annual traffic capacity of around 25 million tons of cargo and 500,000 Twenty-foot equivalent unit, TEU's. It is also serves as a tour ...
, invading a large part of Terra di Lavoro
Terra di Lavoro (Liburia in Latin) is the name of a historical region of Southern Italy.Capitanata
The province of Foggia (, ; Foggiano: ) is a province in the Italian region Apulia.
This province is also known as Daunia, after the Daunians, an Iapygian pre-Roman tribe living in Tavoliere plain, and as Capitanata, derived from ''Catapanat ...
where he found the Barons and the Peoples on his side: Lucera
Lucera (Neapolitan language, Lucerino: ) is an Italian city of 34,243 inhabitants in the province of Foggia in the region of Apulia, and the seat of the Diocese of Lucera-Troia.
Located upon a flat knoll in the Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere ...
immediately opened the doors to him and Luigi Minutolo gave him back the Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
, so did Troia, Foggia
Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...
, San Severo
San Severo (; formerly spelled Sansevero and previously known as San Severino; ; ) is a (municipality) of inhabitants in the province of Foggia, Apulia, Southern Italy. Rising on the foot of the spur of Gargano, San Severo adjoins the communes ...
, Manfredonia
Manfredonia () is a town and Comune, commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the Gulf of Manf ...
and all the Castles of Mount Gargano
Gargano () is a historical and geographical sub-region in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of a promontory projecting into ...
. Ercole d'Este Ercole d'Este may refer to:
*Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio ()
*Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio ()
*Ercole III d'Este
Ercole III d'Este (Ercole Rinaldo; 22 November 1727 – 14 Oct ...
, who had been made Governor of the Capitanata by Ferrante, seeing all the lands of his jurisdiction rebel, at the behest of his brother Borso went to serve the duke. The Duke of Melfi
Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768.
Geography
On a ...
, the Count of Avellino
Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento.
...
, the Count of Buccino
Buccino is a town and ''comune'' in Campania in Italy, in the province of Salerno, located about 700 m above sea level.
Geography
The municipality borders with Auletta, Colliano, Palomonte, Romagnano al Monte, Salvitelle, San Gregorio Magn ...
, the Lord of Torremaggiore
Torremaggiore is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former seat of a bishopric, in the province of Foggia in the Apulia (in Italian: ''Puglia''), region of southeast Italy.
It lies on a hill, over the sea, and is famous for production of wine ...
and the Lord of Santobuono all passed into the pay of John. The Prince of Taranto who was in Bari
Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...
went as far as Bitonto
Bitonto (; ) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, in the Italian region of Apulia. It lies to the west of Bari. It is nicknamed the "City of Olives", due to the numerous olive groves surrounding the city.
Geography
Bitonto lies a ...
to meet the duke and took him to Bari, where he was received with a royal apparatus.
In the meantime, Marino Marzano was trying to assassinate the king through traps and betrayals. The most important attack was the Torricella bite: Marino Marzano deceived the Catalan Gregorio Coreglia, who had been Ferrante's tutor, confiding in him that he wanted to make peace with the sovereign and ask for his grace. Having reported this message to the king, it was decided that the two should meet in a small church located in the place called Torricella near Teano
Teano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, northwest of Caserta on the main line to Rome from Naples. It stands at the southeast foot of an extinct volcano, Rocca Monfina. Its St. Clement's cathedral is ...
on 29 May 1460 and it was set as a condition that each could bring two companions. Therefore, Ferrante brought with him Coreglia himself and Giovanni Ventimiglia, Count of Montesarchio
Montesarchio (; ; ) is a ''comune'' in the Province of Benevento, Campania, Southern Italy. It is located southwest of Benevento in the Valle Caudina at the foot of Monte Taburno. The commune was granted the official status of city (''città'') b ...
, who, with a past as a man of arms over the years, was among the advisors of Ferrante, while Marino was accompanied by two leaders of the time: Deifobo dell' Anguillara, who, at the head of an army had previously forced Ferrante's troops to retreat from Venafro
Venafro (Latin: ''Venafrum''; Greek: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Isernia, region of Molise, Italy. It has a population of 11,079, having expanded quickly in the post-war period.
Geography
Situated at the foot of Mount Santa Croce, elevat ...
to Calvi, and Giacomo da Montagano, known in the chronicles as a very dangerous and ready-handed man, who had dropped into Terra di Lavoro on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...
to join the army of John of Anjou.
When Marino's attempt to lead Ferrante to a more sheltered place failed, citing as an excuse not to be seen by the French, camped on the Rocca di Teano. The two began to talk and an altercation arose. Deifobo, stating that he too wanted to reconcile with the sovereign, moved to meet him in order to attack him. However, Ferrante, seeing the dagger that he was hiding in his hand, drew his sword and faced the two conspirators alone, as the count and Coreglia were held at bay from Montagano. The King got the better of them, and before his troops arrived, he managed to wound them and put them to flight. In the excitement of the battle, the dagger that had fallen from Anguillara's hand was picked up by a soldier of Ferrante and it was discovered that he was poisoned, since, having touched a dog, he instantly fell dead. This event was then represented in the first, top left, of the six bas-reliefs impressed on the bronze door after the Arc de Triomphe in Castel Nuovo
Castel Nuovo (; ; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (; ; ' Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and ...
.
The whole Principato Citra, Basilicata
Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...
, and Calabria
Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
up to Cosenza
Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...
raised the Angevin flags, and the rest of Calabria was rebelled by the Marquis of Crotone. It is said that at that point Queen Isabella of Chiaramonte, wife of Ferrante, seeing her desperate husband, disguised as a monk with her confessor, went to visit her uncle Prince of Taranto and begged him to keep her queen as he once had her, so much so that the prince moved away from hostilities.
John managed to reach the walls of Naples and would have even entered if the prudence of Queen Isabella, who had the whole city armed in the absence of her husband, had not prevented him from entering.
Ferrante was initially defeated by the Angevins and the rebel barons in the battle of Sarno on 7 July 1460. On that occasion, he was saved by the intervention of military troops, "provisioned" and "conscripts", of the city of Cava de' Tirreni
Cava de' Tirreni (; Cilentan: ''A Càva'') is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, northwest of the town of Salerno. It lies in a richly cultivated valley surrounded by wooded hills, and is a popu ...
, which were headed by the captains Giosuè and Marino Longo. These troops, arrived in Foce di Sarno, descended from the mountain and attacked the Angevins who, surprised and unable to determine the extent of the attack, were forced to retreat, giving King Ferrante the possibility of opening up through Nola
Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship.
...
, the escape to Naples. Fortunately for him, that battle did not have a decisive outcome, indeed the sovereign obtained further aid from the Duke of Milan Francesco Sforza.
The retaliation of Ferrante
The Duke of Milan entered the war in aid of Ferrante also for fear of the claims that theDuke of Orleans
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ...
had on the State of Milan. Therefore, he sent his brother Alessandro Sforza
Alessandro Sforza (21 October 1409 – 3 April 1473) was an Italian condottiero and lord of Pesaro, the first of the Pesaro line of the Sforza family.
Biography
He was born in Cotignola in 1409, an illegitimate son of the famous condottier ...
and Roberto Sanseverino, Count of Caiazzo
Caiazzo is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta (Campania) in Italy. It is located on the right bank of the Volturnus, some northeast of Capua.
History
The ancient Caiatia was already in the hands of the Romans in 306 BC, and sinc ...
, who was the son of his sister, to the king, both to advise him and also to foster a reconciliation between the king and the barons. The arrival of the Count of Caiazzo greatly raised the fate of the war, because being a relative of the Count of Marsico and San Severino, he negotiated with him to return loyal to the king, managing in the end to convince him. The count gladly accepted the privileges that the king offered him, including the concession of the city of Salerno with the title of Prince, to be able to mint coins, and many other privileges. The Count of Marsico, who from that moment was called Prince of Salerno, immediately sent a messenger to Pope Pius II for the acquittal of the oath he had made to Duke John when he made him his Knight. From this episode many other barons followed his example, rejecting the Ordre du Croissant of which John had honored them as Knights. Pope Pius II, with the bull of January 5, 1460, absolved from the oath all those who had taken the Ordre du Croissant from John and undid this Confraternity. The agreement between the Prince of Salerno and the King overturned the war in favor of Ferrante because it opened the way for him to reconquer Calabria, since the lands of the Prince of Salerno from San Severino to Calabria belonged to him, to the Count of Capaccio Capaccio is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Julius Capaccio (1552–1634), Italian humanist
*Mike Capaccio
Mike Capaccio (born December 17, 1957) is an American athletics administrator, currently serving as athletic directo ...
, to the Count of Lauria
Lauria is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, southern Italy, situated near the borders of Calabria. It is a walled, medieval town on the steep side of a hill, with another portion of municipal territory in the plai ...
, or to other followers of his lineage. The prince of Salerno then went with Roberto Orsini to conquer it. He managed to take Cosenza, which was sacked, Scigliano
Scigliano is a small town and ''comune located in the hills'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is the birthplace of the 16th-century Italian humanist Giovanni Valentino Gentile.
See also
* Savuto river
R ...
, Martorano, Nicastro
Nicastro is a town in the province of Catanzaro, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Since 1968 it constitutes, together with Sambiase and Sant'Eufemia Lamezia, the city of Lamezia Terme.
Geography
It is situated on the isthmus bet ...
, Bisignano
Bisignano ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks. The town has historically bee ...
, and in a short time almost the whole province returned to the king.
Meanwhile, Pope Pius II sent his nephew Antonio Piccolomini to help the king with 1000 horses and 500 foot soldiers, managing to reconquer the Terra di Lavoro. At the same time the Duke of Milan sent a new aid, with which he managed to reconquer many lands in Abruzzo. In the meantime, the king went to Lucera in Apulia, where Duke John lived, and who with a large army, was waiting for the Prince of Taranto. Many cities surrendered to Ferrante, such as San Severo, Dragonara, many lands of Mount Gargano, and finally Sant'Angelo. The king went down to the underground church of that famous sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...
; he found a great deal of silver and gold, not only what had been donated for the great devotion to the sanctuary; but also what had been brought by priests from the nearby lands. Having noted it, he took it, promising after the victory to return everything; and with that silver he immediately had that coin called "Li Coronati di S. Angelo" struck, which benefited him a lot in this war.
Gjergj Kastrioti
Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanians, Albanian Albanian nobility, feudal lord and military commander who led Skanderbeg's rebellion, a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, ...
, nicknamed Skanderbeg, came to help King Ferrante from Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
with numerous ships, 700 horses, and 1000 veteran infantrymen. He was a very famous man at that time for his campaigns against the Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
of Mehmed II
Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.
In Mehmed II's first reign, ...
, who reciprocated the help of Alfonso the Magnanimous who, years earlier, when the Turks had attacked him in Albania where he ruled, had rescued him. His coming was so effective that he made his enemies wary of attacking him..
Ferrante went to meet Skanderbeg, welcomed him in celebration, and for several days gave him a grateful rest in Bari. Skanderbeg then had his soldiers gathered and raised their spirits by inspiring him with gratitude for the Aragonese and rekindling in them the love of glory.
Jacopo Piccinino
Jacopo Piccinino (1423 – July 1465) was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, the son of military leader Niccolò Piccinino. A native of Perugia, he was the feudal lord of Sulmona, Sterpeto, Assisi, Chieti, Città Sant'Angelo, Francavilla al M ...
, who commanded the allied army and observed its discomfort, demanded and obtained a truce. However, because he foresaw an unhappy end, he decided not to maintain the truce. Skanderbeg, having known this, told him that the next day he would engage him in battle and Skanderbeg, having arrived in Bari, joined Ferrante who had set up his camp in Orsara, in Apulia. The following day they came to arms and the Albanian, animated by the example of their leader and the King, fully defeated the enemy army, and Piccinino and John of Anjou were forced to flee. In this battle, four thousand enemies fell, and a thousand others remained prisoners with twenty-five flags and the victors, rich in the spoils of the vanquished, celebrated the triumph for 8 days. When Ferrante returned to Naples, the inhabitants welcomed him with lively cheers and renewed the sacrament of fidelity.
In the Terra di Bari
The Terra di Bari (Italian for "land of Bari"), in antiquity Peucetia and in the Middle Ages Ager Barianus (Latin for "field of Bari"), is the region around Bari in Apulia. Historically it was one of the justiciarships of the Kingdom of Sicily a ...
only Trani
Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT).
History
Overview
The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...
remained on the Angevin side, which the ambitious Sicilian Fusianò was appointed by Ferrante to govern it and with the order to defend it. Seeing the kingdom in disorder, he took advantage of it to become master of the city, even starting to extort the inhabitants of the neighboring villages. However, the appearance of Skanderbeg in the area of Trani was enough for the downfall of such a rogue and he was pardoned by the King, therefore not being punished. Inanto, the gratitude that bound him to the Skanderbeg was not silent in Ferrante's heart and, wanting to give him a sign, he gave him to his own and perpetual heritage Trani, Siponto
Siponto (, ) was an ancient port town and bishopric of Magna Graecia in Apulia, southern Italy. The town was abandoned after earthquakes in the 13th century; today the area is administered as a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Manfredonia, in t ...
, and San Giovanni Rotondo
San Giovanni Rotondo is the name of a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia and region of Apulia, in southern Italy.
San Giovanni Rotondo was the home of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina from 28 July 1916 until his death on 23 September 1968. T ...
, a city in Puglia and therefore opposite Albania.
The Cardinal Roverella, Apostolic Legate, who was in Benevento, managed to bring the side of Ferrante Orso Orsini and, after this episode, even the Marquis of Cotrone and the Count of Nicastro reconciled with the king.
Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
, Duke of Calabria, Ferrante's eldest son, who was less than 14 years old, was sent by his father under the protection of Luca Sanseverino to subdue Calabria.
The king, on the other hand, managed to defeat his enemies in Capitanata, took Troia, and entirely subdued that province. Some barons, seeing the defeats of the Angevins, decided to surrender to the king, as did Giovanni Caracciolo, Duke of Melfi
Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768.
Geography
On a ...
, among other things.
The fate of the war turned in Ferrante's favor on 18 August 1462 in Puglia with the battle of Troia, where King Ferrante and Alessandro Sforza inflicted a definitive defeat on their adversaries. After the battle, the ranks of Ferrante's enemies constantly fell apart.
Only the Terra di Lavoro remained to be subdued beyond the Volturno and Abruzzo, where the Duke John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
had fortified himself. The Prince of Rossano, on the other hand, was at war in Sora, where the Pope's army, urged by Ferrante for the assault, did not want to move, claiming that the Pope had not sent him to help the king, as there was no more need given that the Duke of Anjou was exhausted by the war, but that they had been sent only because the Pope demanded that the Duchy of Sora
The Duchy of Sora was a Historical states of Italy, semi-independent state in Italy, created in 1443 by King Alfonso V of Aragon, Alfonso I of Naples and dissolved in 1796. It occupied the south-eastern part of what is today Lazio, bordering what i ...
, the county of Arpino
Arpino (Southern Latian dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Frosinone, in the Latin Valley, region of Lazio in central Italy, about 100 km SE of Rome. Its Roman name was Arpinum. The town produced two consuls of the ...
, and that of Celano having once been the territory of the Church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
, were returned to him. In order not to get involved in new disputes, he decided to give the county di Celano to Antonio Piccolomini, nephew of the Pope and his son-in-law, with the condition that he recognize the king as supreme lord.
Pope Pius then died, and with the same condition he gave the Duchy of Sora to Leonardo della Rovere, nephew of Pope Sixtus Pope Sixtus or Xystus is the name of five Popes of the Roman Catholic Church:
*Pope Sixtus I (saint; ca. 115/119–ca. 125/128)
*Pope Sixtus II (saint; 257–258)
*Pope Sixtus III (saint; 432–440)
*Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484)
*Pope Sixtus V
...
. Returning to the war, finally the Prince of Rossano capitulated, and through Cardinal Roverella, the peace treaty was concluded with some conditions, including a new parental bond: Ferrante had to grant Giambattista Marzano, son of Marino, his own daughter Beatrice
Beatrice may refer to:
* Beatrice (given name)
Places In the United States
* Beatrice, Alabama, a town
* Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality
* Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...
, who was immediately sent to Sessa by her aunt Eleonora as a sign of peace.
Marino was subsequently imprisoned by Ferrante, who had already taken possession of all his fiefdom. The Prince of Taranto
The Principality of Taranto () was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy o ...
, seeing the situation degenerate because of the king, who was reaching him to conquer it, asked him for peace. Ferrante did not refuse it and sent Antonello Petrucci Antonello Petrucci, also known as Antonello d'Aversa (born in Teano – died in Naples, 1487) was a Baron and secretary to King Ferdinand I of Naples (Don Ferrante of Naples).
Biography
Petrucci was born to a humble family, and rose first as an as ...
o, his secretary, with Cardinal Roverella, the Pope's legate, to negotiate the conditions of the armistice with the Prince's ambassadors. Among the conditions of the armistice, there was that the prince was expelled from Puglia and the Duke John from all his fiefs. The Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
retired to Altamura
Altamura (; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Altopiano delle Murge, Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. , i ...
where he died shortly after, not without the king's suspicion of poisoning.
On November 16, the death of Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo, Prince of Taranto
The Principality of Taranto () was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy o ...
, deprived the Angevin front of its most influential boss and financier. With his death, the original plan of Alfonso V of Aragon to make Taranto the pivotal principality in his and his heirs' hands was realized. The Apulian fiefdom was inherited by his wife Isabella and became a fundamental strength for Ferrante's resources.
The last Angevin stronghold
In September 1463 Duke John, abandoned by his allies, agreed with the king to go on the island of Ischia. After subduing Apulia,L'Aquila
L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...
, and Abruzzo, Ferrante faced only the reconquest of Ischia, the last Angevin bulwark, where the Duke of Anjou had retired, and which was defended by the brothers Carlo and Giovanni Toreglia; these with eight galleys infested the Gulf of Naples
The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9.3 mi) gulf located along the south-western coast of Italy (Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region). It opens to the west into the Mediterranean ...
to such an extent that King Ferrante asked for the intervention of his uncle John II of Aragon, who sent him Galzerano Richisens with numerous Catalan galleys. In the spring of 1464 John of Anjou, having seen himself isolated and defeated, left with two galleys for Provence
Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...
.
After the Catalan army came, which he was no longer in need of, Ferrante gave a great gift to General Toreglia and sent the army back. When Duke John left the kingdom, he left a good memory to some peoples and nobles thanks to his numerous virtues, so many knights followed him to the France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, including Count Nicola di Campobasso, Giacomo Galeota, and Rofallo del Giudice. The Duke John arrived in Provence and was called by the Catalans
Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...
, who had rebelled against King John II of Aragon, an event for which Ferrante very rejoiced, as if the Duke John, his father René, and the King of Aragon were engaged in waging war with each other and would not have constituted a danger to Naples. Meanwhile, the County of Barcelona
The County of Barcelona (, ) was a polity in northeastern Iberian Peninsula, originally located in the southern frontier region of the Carolingian Empire. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona progressively achieved independence from F ...
had rebelled against King John and had called King René to govern him. Ferrante, warned of the war, sent some militias to Catalonia to help his uncle.
Twenty years of prosperity
Marriage policy
After having triumphed against his enemies and subdued the whole kingdom, Ferrante thought of restoring it from the damage of the seven years of war that had upset him. First of all, through political marriages, he tried to keep the kingdom safe and therefore decided to marry his eldest son Alfonso with Ippolita, daughter of theDuke of Milan
Milan was ruled by dukes from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna.
List of dukes of Milan House of Visconti
In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti was titled Duke ...
, the eldest daughter Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...
with the Duke of Ferrara
This is a list of rulers of the estates owned by the House of Este, Este family, which main line of Marquesses (''Marchesi d'Este'') rose in 1039 with Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan. The name "Este" is related to the city where the family came ...
Ercole d'Este Ercole d'Este may refer to:
*Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio ()
*Ercole II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara and Duke of Modena and Reggio ()
*Ercole III d'Este
Ercole III d'Este (Ercole Rinaldo; 22 November 1727 – 14 Oct ...
, and the younger Beatrice
Beatrice may refer to:
* Beatrice (given name)
Places In the United States
* Beatrice, Alabama, a town
* Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality
* Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...
with King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and adopted the tit ...
. All these celebrations were interrupted by mourning for the death of Queen Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpo ...
, a woman of numerous virtues. She was mourned by everyone, and her body was taken to the church of San Pietro Martire, where her sepulcher can still be seen today. King Ferrante, after long years of widowhood, in 1477 married his cousin Joanna
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne.
The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...
, daughter of his uncle King John II of Aragon.
Internal Politics during the Golden Age
The end of the rebellion of the barons was followed by twenty years of internal peace which allowed Ferrante to strengthen the state and increase its wealth. The confiscation of the lands of the rebel barons transformed the balance of power between the crown and the nobility of the kingdom. Ferrante, always distrustful of the barons, pushed his subjects to greater economic vigor with the introduction of new measures that effectively allowed the entire population of the kingdom to enjoy greater freedom in daily life. With a law of 1466, he allowed farmers to freely dispose of their products, releasing them from the obligation of having to sell the food to the local lord at the price he set.
State-owned cities gained increasing importance as it imposed greater controls on baronial power. In the kingdom the Jews, protected by King Ferrante, carried out a notable artisanal and commercial activity. It was an important moment for municipal freedoms. The king himself granted statutes to state-owned cities and ratified those granted by the barons, favoring the growth of an urban aristocracy as a counterweight to the feudal nobility.
Furthermore, in 1466, in order to prevent the abandonment of the lands with its inevitable consequences, harmful to the tax authorities and to the well-being of the country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
, he ordered that the privileged classes, used to hoarding them, could not be of any obstacle to the free sale of the fruits of the earth, such as prices set at their discretion. In 1469, while confirming ecclesiastical immunities, he left them only to those who actually dedicated themselves to the practices of worship. He tried to reactivate the industries, especially those of silk and wool; indeed, he himself became an industrialist and merchant, associating himself with the daring enterprises of Francesco Coppola, later Count of Sarno
Sarno is a town and ''comune'' and former Latin Catholic bishopric of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 20 km northeast from the city of Salerno and 60 km east of Naples by the main railway.
Overview
It lies at the foo ...
.
Nor is the increase and promotion of the fine arts and cultural life less innovative. In fact, in addition to the erected architectures and the impulse given to the university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, during his reign a true Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and Latin culture was formed in the kingdom, which counted among its major representatives the Panormita, the Sannazaro
Jacopo Sannazaro (; 28 July 1458 – 6 August 1530) was an Italian poet, humanist, member and head of the Accademia Pontaniana from Naples.
He wrote easily in Latin, in Italian and in Neapolitan, but is best remembered for his humanist classic ...
, the Pontano
Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano (), was a Renaissance humanism, humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto, in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after the death of Antonio Beccade ...
: literature that reflected life of the country, its tendencies, its needs, especially through the works of Diomede Carafa, of Galateo, of Tristano Caracciolo, and, as such, it was destined to survive even in the following centuries.
The death of the Duke of Milan Francesco Sforza in 1466, followed later by that of Gjergj Kastrioti, Lord of Albania, deprived Ferrante of his closest friends.
The League of Italian powers
Ferrante further strengthened his power with a series of alliances. Around 1463 he promoted a league between the majorItalian states
Italy, up until its unification in 1861, was a conglomeration of city-states, republics, and other independent entities. The following is a list of the various Italian states during that period. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
: Naples, Florence, and Milan. The pacification of the kingdom of Naples had positive effects throughout Italy and the alliance was, as Ernesto Pontieri writes, also beneficial "for the purpose of preserving peace in Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
".
However, the equilibrium achieved with such great effort soon proved to be very precarious. The duchy of Milan Galeazzo Maria sforza
Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476.
He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450 ...
in March 1470 allied himself with Louis XI of France
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...
, effectively invalidating the league with Florence and Naples. Ferrante, then, exploited the weak point of the Sforza
The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti of Milan, Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ...
power represented by Genoa
Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
, fomenting the rebellion of the capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
, where in 1476 there were riots to the cry of "long live the king of Naples and long live freedom".
The war of the census
On 19 August 1464 Pius II also died, depriving Ferrante of his most faithful ally. The successor,Pope Paul II
Pope Paul II (; ; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched fr ...
, recognizing that his predecessor had neglected the collection of the income due to the papacy, began to urge Ferrante to pay all the taxes he owed to the Holy See, which had not been paid for several years. Ferrante, aggravated by the excessive expenses for the last war, had run out of money and therefore not only apologized for not being able to pay them, but asked the Pontiff to subscribe to the payment. A discord was generated from this claim that stopped when the Pope asked for help from Ferrante to lower the power of the sons of the counts of Anguillara, who sent him troops.
Once the undertaking was over, the Pope renewed his request for censuses obtained with greater diligence than before. The King then demanded from the Pope to release the censuses for the expenses he had recently made to help him and also demanded for the future that the prior papal income from his kingdom, eight thousand oncie
In southern Italy, the ''oncia'' (plural ''oncie'' or ''once'') or ''onza'' (pl. ''onze'') was a unit of account during the Middle Ages and later a gold coin minted between 1732 and 1860. It was also minted in the southern Italian territories of t ...
a year, should be reduced. He claimed that payment was excessive even for the Kingdom encompassing both Naples and Sicily, and that since Sicily was ruled by his uncle, King John of Aragon, Ferrante, and Naples should not pay the entire amount. The Pope on the other hand emphasized the help that Ferrante had received from his predecessor.
Ferrante added another claim: the restitution of Papal lands within the borders of the kingdom, consisting of Terracina in Terra di Lavoro, Cività Ducale and Leonessa
:''Leonessa is also the name of a ''frazione'' of Bassano Romano.''
Leonessa is a town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Province of Rieti in the Lazio region of central Italy. Its population in 2008 was around 2,700.
Situated in ...
in Abruzzo
Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...
; and this in force of the agreement made in 1443 by Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Republic of Venice, Venetian, and a nephew ...
with his father King Alfonso V Alfonso V (Spanish), Afonso V (Portuguese), Alfons V (Catalan) or Alphonse V (French) may refer to:
* Alfonso V of León (999–1028)
* Alfonso V of Aragon (1416–1458), The Magnanimous
* Afonso V of Portugal (), The African
* Afonso V of Kongo Af ...
. Ferrante also demanded the restitution of Benevento, which he had granted to his ally Pope Pius, but now demanded its returned. The Pope, seeing how soured the mood of the King was, and not being able to resist him with the army or with other ways, immediately sent to Naples Cardinal Roverella to try to appease Ferrante, who then angrily ordered Alfonso his son to remove the Duchy of Sora
The Duchy of Sora was a Historical states of Italy, semi-independent state in Italy, created in 1443 by King Alfonso V of Aragon, Alfonso I of Naples and dissolved in 1796. It occupied the south-eastern part of what is today Lazio, bordering what i ...
to the Church. The Cardinal carried out the task so well that from then on there was no more talk of expired censuses, nor of the restitution of those lands. Other disputes arose between them for the defense of the Lords of Tolfa Tolfa is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome, in the Lazio region of central Italy; it lies to the ENE of Civitavecchia by road.
It is the main center in the Monti della Tolfa, an extinct volcanic group between Civitavecchia a ...
, given that the Pope was pretending that the city was his and laying siege to it, but the army of the King arrived and the army of the Pope, seeing that of Ferrante, fled immediately, leaving the siege. The disputes that the Kings of Naples had with the Roman Pontiffs were always bitter and continuous not only in Tolfa, but also in the territory of Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula.
History
Antiquity
Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia ...
and Agnano
Agnano is a suburb of Napoli, Italy, situated southwest of the city in the Campi Flegrei region. It was popular among both ancient Greeks and Romans and was famed for its hot sulphurous springs.
History
Lake Agnano formed in the Middle Ages ...
that the Pontiffs claimed belonged to them.
The death of Pope Paul on July 26, 1471, and the succession of Pope Sixtus IV, former Cardinal Francesco della Rovere, ended all discords. In 1475, Pope Sixtus in a Bull exempted Ferrante from having pay the census, save for the investiture to send him a well-trimmed white horse every year; thus the use of the chinea
The Chinèa was the name attached to a tribute paid by the Kings of Naples as vassals to the Popes. The tribute was apparently first recognized by the Norman King of Sicily in 1059. The Chinea reached its greatest magnitude from about 1550 to 1776 ...
was introduced to Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
. Ferrante, recognizing the virtues of this Pontiff, wanted to pay homage to him by giving the Duchy of Sora (which he had taken from Giovanni Paolo Cantelmo) to Leonardo della Rovere, with whom he then married one of his daughters.
The Aragonese Court
Ferrante, therefore, placed himself in a placid calm, marked the same footsteps of King Alfonso his Father, and did not neglect in these years of happiness and peace the need to reorganize the kingdom and enrich it with new arts and provide it with provided laws and institutes, also making at his court men of letters and illustrious in all sorts of sciences, and above all professors of civil and canonical law. In his reign, in addition to the splendor of the royal house, letters and writers flourished. In these years Naples had a flourishing golden age similar to the one it was in the reign ofCharles II of Anjou
Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (; ; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Maine (1285–1290); he also was King of Albania (12 ...
for the promotion of art
Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...
and for the many royals who adorned its palace, in fact Ferrante had numerous offspring like Carlo which increased its prestige. The Royal House of Naples in these times did not have to envy any court of the major princes of Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, because one day in a feast celebrated in Naples more than fifty people of this royal family appeared, so much so that it was believed that they could never to finish.
Foreign Policy During the Golden Age
In 1471 Ferrante made alliances withEngland
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, with Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
and with the Republic of Venice.
In this moment of peace, the Turkish danger reappeared with the conquest of the Venetian island of Negroponte by Mohammed II. Venice and Naples immediately undertook unitary actions of the fleets in the Aegean
Aegean may refer to:
*Aegean Sea
* Aegean Islands
*Aegean Region (geographical), Turkey
* Aegean Region (statistical), Turkey
*Aegean civilizations
* Aegean languages, a group of ancient languages and proposed language family
*Aegean Sea (theme), ...
, slowing down the Ottoman expansionism. France and the Duchy of Milan unsuccessfully tried to thwart the alliance, potentially very dangerous for their Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
interests. But it was instead Ferrante's ambition that decreed the end of the alliance, when in 1473 he demanded the possession of the island of Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
, protectorate of the Serenissima, proposing in complete secrecy to marry his son Alfonso with a daughter of King James
James may refer to:
People
* James (given name)
* James (surname)
* James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician
* James, brother of Jesus
* King James (disambiguation), various kings named James
* Prince Ja ...
. All this took place with the complicity of Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...
, who did not look favorably on Venetian expansionism in the Aegean.
In the rapid game of alliances and account-alliances that characterized the era, on 2 November 1474 an alliance pact was signed between the Duke of Milan, Galeazzo Maria Sforza
Galeazzo Maria Sforza (24 January 1444 – 26 December 1476) was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476.
He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450 ...
, Florence, and Venice. Ferrante responded by contrasting the coalition with the State of the Church, stipulated in January 1475. On the occasion of the Jubilee
A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...
of that year, Ferrante went to Rome together with some barons of the Kingdom, and the trip constituted an opportunity to further strengthen, through the alliance, the links between the Papal State and the Neapolitan kingdom. Thus two antithetical blocs were created, which again threatened peace in Italy. Ferrante, with his diplomacy made up of moves and countermoves, also forged ties with the Duke of Ferrara and the King of Hungary, who, as mentioned, had married two of his daughters.
King Louis XI
Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the ...
, meanwhile, in 1475 had taken possession of Anjou
Anjou may refer to:
Geography and titles France
*County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou
**Count of Anjou, title of nobility
*Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France
** Du ...
, thus securing the Angevin rights to the throne of Naples. Later he proposed the marriage of his niece Anne of Savoy
Anne of Savoy, Princess of Squillace, Altamura, and Taranto (1 June 1455 – February 1480) was the first wife of King Frederick IV. She died 16 years before he succeeded to the Neapolitan throne, so she was never queen consort. Anne was a member ...
with Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Given name
Nobility
= Anhalt-Harzgerode =
* Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
= Austria =
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...
, son of Ferrante, but the proposal was accepted only in 1478. In 1476 Galeazzo Maria Sforza died, and Ferrante wanted to take advantage of the occasion by trying, with the support of Pope Sisto IV, to take possession of the Duchy of Milan. Ferrante stirred up the Genoese and the Swiss
Swiss most commonly refers to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Swiss may also refer to: Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss Café, an old café located ...
against Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
to make the duchess regent were to defend itself on two sides. Genoa and Savona
Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...
rebelled and the Swiss entered Lombardy
The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...
in November 1478, but Milan knew how to defend itself. Ferrante's plan also failed because he did not obtain the support of the Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg, who was reluctant to meddle in the unstable arena of Italian politics. This furthermore led to the failure of the planned marriage between Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Given name
Nobility
= Anhalt-Harzgerode =
* Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
= Austria =
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...
, son of Ferrante, and Kunigunde of Habsburg, daughter of the emperor. Sixtus IV himself understood that Ferrante's ambitious plans would end up bringing him into conflict with the other Italian states.
In any case, the Republic of Genoa, thanks to subsidies and the rebellion aroused by Ferrante, escaped the dominion of Sforza, becoming independent and with Prospero Adorno appointed doge of the republic. However, after internal discord between Adorni and Fregosi revived by the regency of Milan, Battista Fregoso was elected doge, and Adorno was forced to embark in a galley of King Ferrante who was returning to Naples.
Don Ferrante then completely overturned his policy, starting to secretly support the rebels of the Papal States, such as Niccolò Vitelli who fought the pontiff for the possession of Città di Castello
Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. T ...
. He made arrangements with Mohammed II, who was happy to find an ally against Venice. He entered into trade treaties with Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
and Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
, which gave a beneficial impetus to the kingdom's trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...
and maritime traffic.
Don Ferrante and the printing press
In 1470 Ferrante was one of the first to introduce into Italy theprinting press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...
, recruiting with high salaries Arnold of Brussels, Sixtus Riessinger Sixtus Riessinger (1440/45-post 1505), also called Xistus Reissinger or Rüssinger, was a German printer active in Italy.
Reissinger was born between 1440 and 1445 in Sulz am Neckar in the Holy Roman Empire. A priest's son, he followed his father's ...
and Iodoco Havenstein. Among the books printed in Naples, were the Latin classics; Commentaries on the first books of the Code of the famous Antonio d'Alessandro; those on medicine by Angelo Catone da Supino; lectures on Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
; the work by Aniello Arcamone on the Constitutions of the kingdom; and poetry from both of fishermen and of heroes of Italy. Among the other Neapolitan books that were printed was also the Arcadia of the famous Sannazaro printed by Pietro Summonte
Pietro Summonte (1463–1526) was an Italian Renaissance humanist of Naples, a member of the learned circle of friends in the Ciceronian manner that constituted Pontano's Accademia Pontaniana. Summonte's care in preserving his correspondence o ...
, his dear friend. When Riessinger returned to Rome in 1478, Francesco Del Tuppo took over as director of the printing house and was the most prolific of the printer in 15th-century Naples.
The meeting between Don Ferrante and Saint Francesco of Paola
Ferrante, at the insistence of the King of France Louis XI and driven by the fame of his integrity, had the monk Francis
Francis may refer to:
People and characters
*Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church (2013–2025)
*Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Francis (surname)
* Francis, a character played by YouTuber Boogie2 ...
, famous for his holiness, come from Paola. The pious religious left his Calabria and was in Naples in 1481. Welcomed at Porta Nolana, he was received with great honor and courtesy by the King, who had him lodged in the Royal Palace of Castel Nuovo, in a small room that still exists. During this stay the king begged him, before going to France, to found a convent in Naples, making him choose the place to found it. The Saint chose a solitary and rocky place overlooking the sea, asylum for criminals, on the northern slopes of Mount Echia.
Warned not to be deceived in the election of the site, Francis prophesied that this place would be the most important and populated center not only in Naples, but in the whole Kingdom. The Convent was built with next to it, a church dedicated to San Luigi, called the church of San Luigi di Palazzo, for a chapel that existed at the time and dedicated to this saint. During the factory, many alms and a conspicuous donation from the King were received. The saint insistently requested and also obtained that the body of Saint Januarius
Januarius ( ; ; Neapolitan and ), also known as , was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing ...
be transferred to Naples, at which ceremony with great pomp celebrated by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa
Oliviero Carafa (10 March 1430 – 20 January 1511), in Latin Oliverius Carafa, was an Italian cardinal and diplomat of the Renaissance. Like the majority of his era's prelates, he displayed the lavish and conspicuous standard of living that w ...
, he too wanted to attend.
Although the Kingdom of Naples was ruled by Ferrante, locally the effective power was the prerogative of the noble families, according to what was the feudal system. These barons oppressed the population, which occupied the lowest social level, so Ferrante tried to hinder their power. Francis also fulfilled in this historical context the mission of spreading the Christian life.
Wanting to prove his integrity - as it is said - Ferrante brought the saint to the parts of the current Piazza del Plebiscito
Piazza del Plebiscito (; ) is a large public square in central Naples, Italy.
History
Named after the plebiscite taken on October 21, 1860, that brought Naples into the unified Kingdom of Italy under the House of Savoy, the piazza is very clos ...
and tempted him with a tray full of gold coins offered for the construction of a convent of the Minims in Naples, in the open space that today it is occupied by the colonnade of the Church of San Francesco di Paola
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
. St. Francis refused, took a coin, broke it, and let out blood. The blood that came out of the coins was that of the subjects, of the people who suffered the powerful. Faced with a huge supply of money and a proposal of ultimate prosperity and wealth, anyone would be able to be seduced; so, it was not for the Saint.
When the latter then left for France at the invitation of King Louis XI, the Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
and the King of Naples took the opportunity to strengthen the fragile relations with France, foreseeing, in perspective, the possibility of reaching an agreement to abolish the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges
The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, issued by King Charles VII of France, on 7 July 1438, required a General Church Council, with authority superior to that of the papacy, to be held every ten years, required election rather than appointment to ec ...
.
Government after twenty years of prosperity
Pazzi conspiracy (1478-1480)
Ferrante's alliances rested mainly on the Sforza of Milan and theEste
Este may refer to:
Geography
* Este (woreda), a district in Ethiopia
* Este, Veneto, a town in Italy
* Este (Málaga), a district in Spain
* Este (river), a river in Germany
* Este (São Pedro), a parish in Portugal
* Este (São Mamede), a p ...
of Modena
Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025.
A town, and seat of an archbis ...
and Ferrara
Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
.
In 1478, at the time of the Pazzi conspiracy
The Pazzi conspiracy () was a failed plot by members of the Pazzi family and others to displace the Medici family as rulers of Renaissance Florence.
On 26 April 1478 there was an attempt to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medici and his brother ...
, he showed his desire to mediate peacefully, but after the outcome of the conspiracy, he sided against Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...
and declared war on Florence. Ferrante managed to reach an agreement with the Turkish sultan, who unleashed his army against Venice, which, forced to defend itself, was unable to rush to Florence to help. The heir to the throne Alfonso, commander of the Neapolitan army, was sent to war in Tuscany, where he managed to be proclaimed lord of Siena. The Florentines had no choice but to come to terms with the king of Naples and an armistice was asked. Lorenzo de' Medici had realized that he could not afford the enmity of a sovereign so powerful and so close: he therefore set off for Naples to deal directly with Ferrante.
On 5 December 1479 Lorenzo the Magnificent embarked on Neapolitan ships in Pisa
Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...
to reach Naples. All of Italy observed this trip with great interest, awaiting great decisions: the meeting had been well prepared and the welcome to Lorenzo, who arrived in Naples on 18 December 1479, exceeded all expectations. The peace, which was stipulated on March 17, 1480, provided for the alliance between Florence and Naples. When Pope Sixtus IV learned that Milan and the Duke of Ferrara also adhered to the treaty, he thought it best to ally himself with Venice.
The peace was granted, although the fate of the arms had been favorable to the Aragonese, and happy circumstances, such as the internal unrest in Milan and the neutrality of Venice, authorized consideration as the most opportune moment for Naples to attempt the conquest of an effective dominance over Italy. In any case, the alliance with Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici proved to be advantageous for Ferrante, so much so that in 1483 Ferrante appointed Lorenzo the Magnificent Chamber of the Kingdom. Such a title was more than anything else honorific, for the one who more than any other will prove to be a good ally of the king of Naples. The historian Ernesto Pontieri comments: "Ferrante, found in the league with Florence a bulwark against the enemy forces of his dynasty, which, as is well known, were the treacherous and riotous baronage inside and foreign suitors outside. Both contractors, the Aragonese and the Medici, remained faithful to the pacts agreed in Naples in 1480; and in reality, as long as they lived, no one violated the borders of Italy."
However, the daring journey of the Magnificent confirmed the fame that Ferrante enjoyed as "Judge of Italy". Furthermore, the magnificence of his court and the wealth of means at his disposal created him the reputation of a very rich sovereign; and finally his flashy diplomatic and war triumphs, his wise financial and administrative reforms, and the considerable aids given to writers and artists were able to give good hopes to the subjects who were favorable to his house.
War of Otranto (1480-1481)
Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Ferrante were negotiating in Naples, still in 1480, whenMehmed II
Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481.
In Mehmed II's first reign, ...
, followed by a powerful fleet, began to threaten the Kingdom of Naples. Mehmed II appeared in the Otranto
Otranto (, , ; ; ; ; ) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertile region once famous for its breed of horses. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
...
canal, where only a thousand fighters were protecting Otranto, while another 400 arrived from Naples led by Francesco Zurolo
Francesco Zurolo, also called ''Francesco Zurulo'' (in some historical documents of the time) or more commonly ''Francesco Zurlo'' (first half of the 15th century – 11 August 1480), he was an Overlord, Italian feudal lord, baron of Oppido L ...
The citizens made a valiant defense more than the soldiers, but against the powerful and numerous Ottoman army, their constancy was useless against Gedik, commander of the expedition against Naples, which in the end managed to occupy Otranto in less than two months. This is when most of the population was massacred. Eight hundred citizens of Otranto were exhorted by the Ottomans to abandon the Catholic religion
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
to convert to Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. However, they chose martyrdom over conversion.
Having taken the city, Mehmed II called Gedik to him, who left his Lieutenant Ariadeno Baglivo of Negroponte with 7000 Turks and 500 horses in the city, and he with 12 Galleys, loaded the resources of the sack of that city and sent them to newly conquered Konstantiniyye
Constantinople ( see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman empires between its consecration in 330 until 1930, when it was renamed to Istanbul. Initia ...
. Ariadeno therefore, wishing to continue the conquests, thought of occupying Brindisi
Brindisi ( ; ) is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an essential role in trade and culture due to its strategic position ...
and laying siege to other cities. Ferrante, seeing his kingdom in danger, asked for help from all the princes of Europe and immediately sent a messenger to call Alfonso, his son in Tuscany, to leave the war against Florence and come to help the kingdom.
The Turkish danger was, explicitly, the basis of the royal decision to adequately fortify Brindisi. While the Turks were still barricaded in Otranto, in February 1481, Ferrante d'Aragona ordered the start of work for the construction of a fortress to guard the port of Brindisi
The port of Brindisi is a seaport in Brindisi, Italy. It is used for tourism, commercial and industrial shipping on the Adriatic Sea. Tourist traffic offer connections with the Balkan Peninsula, Greece and Turkey, while commercial concerns include ...
: the Ferrante tower. Subsequently, in 1485, Alfonso, son of King Ferrante and then Duke of Calabria, transformed the keep of Ferrante into a castle. Thus was born the superb Aragonese castle of Brindisi.
The Duke of Calabria abandoned the war in Tuscany and having arrived in Naples on 10 September 1480, gathered an army of 80 Galere with some vessels and gave the command to Galeazzo Caracciolo, who arrived with the army in the Strait of Otranto
The Strait of Otranto (; ) connects the Adriatic Sea with the Ionian Sea and separates Italy from Albania. Its width between Punta Palascìa, eastern Salento, and Karaburun Peninsula, western Albania, is less than . The strait is named after ...
, greatly frightened the enemy army. Shortly after, the Duke of Calabria himself joined him, accompanied by a large number of Neapolitan barons. The King of Hungary, brother-in-law of the Duke, sent 1700 soldiers and 300 Hungarian horses, and the Pope sent a cardinal with 22 Genoese galleys. The Pope, to thwart the danger from which he had threatened Italy, tried to unite the Italian governments in his will to make them act against the invasion of the Turks and absolved the Florentines from excommunication, forgiving them for all the injuries done to the Church. Ferrante, in exchange for 10,000 ducats, returned to them all the lands he had conquered during the conflict against Florence (Colle Val d'Elsa
Colle di Val d'Elsa or Colle Val d'Elsa is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany. It has a population of c. 21,600 . Its name means "Hill of Elsa Valley", where Elsa is the name of the river which crosses it and Valdelsa the nam ...
, Poggibonsi
Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Central Italy. It is located on the River Elsa (river), Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa, Valdelsa Valley.
History
The area around Poggibonsi was already settled in the Neolithic ...
, Monte San Savino
Monte San Savino is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany (Italy). It is located on the Essa stream in the Valdichiana. Several of its frazioni occupy higher hills, like Gargonza at and Palazzuolo, at an elevation of .
History
M ...
, Poggio Imperiale, and other fortified places in the Chianti
Chianti is an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti (region), Chianti region of central Tuscan wine, Tuscany, principally from the Sangiovese grape. It was historically associated with a squat bottle enclosed in a straw basket, called a ''fia ...
and Valdelsa
250px, Valdelsa between Elsa, in Tuscany">Castelfiorentino">Certaldo and Castelfiorentino.
Valdelsa or Val d'Elsa is the valley of the river Elsa (river)">Elsa, in Tuscany, central Italy. The valley is divided into two traditional regions: Alta ...
).
The Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...
, after many battles, were finally forced to retreat into Otranto, where they defended themselves for a long time. The death of Mohammed II and the discord that arose between two of his sons, Cem Sultan
Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (22 December 1459 – 25 February 1495, ; ; ; ), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century.
Cem was the third son of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Mehmed II and ...
and Bayezid Bayezid (also spelled Beyazıt, Beyazid, Bayazid, Bajazet, Beyazit, Bejazid or Bayazit), an Arabic, Persian, Bengali, Pashto and Turkish name, from the Arabic , meaning "a devoted saint", may refer to:
People
* Bayazid Bastami (804–874 or 877/7 ...
, each of whom demanded the empire, prompted Ariaden to understand that the help he was waiting for would come very late, so he decided to surrender to Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
and, after having after concluding the peace negotiations, he embarked with the troops and set out for Constantinople.
The young Alfonso, enthusiastic about the success of the enterprise, after having fired the Hungarian soldiers finally returned to Naples, where he was acclaimed by the people and where he found the help that had come from Portugal and Spain, which he sent back. Many famous men of arms died in the war such as: Matteo di Capua, Count of Palena, Giulio Acquaviva, Count of Conversano
Conversano (Bari dialect, Barese: ) is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast, at above sea level.
The counts of Conversan ...
, Don Diego Cavaniglia, and Marino Caracciolo. The bones of the heroic Martyrs of Otranto were then buried by Alfonso with all honors, some of which in the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Otranto, later transferred to the Church of Santa Caterina in Formiello, where they are venerated as relics of martyrs.
The praise for the victorious king was equal to the insane terror that had shocked Europe at the news of the Muslim landing in Apulia and Ferrante was hailed as the savior of Italy and Europe.
When Mehmed II died, a discord began between Bayezid and Zizim over who was to ascend the throne and the latter, through a safe conduct, gave himself into the hands of the Grand Master of Rhodes. Bayezid, eager to have it in his hands, petitioned the Grand Master and the knights to give it to him in exchange for one hundred thousand scudi, but the quibbles sent him first to France and then to Rome to the papal court first to Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...
and then to Pope Innocent VIII. Bayezid was very indignant for this and recruited a mighty army against the knights, which in 1483 passed over Rhodes
Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...
. Ferrante, having learned that Rhodes was besieged and doubting that the island would not capitulate due to such a great obstacle, recruited a small army of ships and other woods to help it. The army sailed to Rhodes and not only rescued it but saved it valiantly from the impulses of enemies. This increased so much praise to the King, so much so that he was appointed curator of the Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...
.
War of Ferrara (1482-1484)
In 1482 the Venetians and the Pope allied themselves against the Duke of Ferrara, son-in-law of King Ferrante, because he did not observe the agreements established between them in earlier times. The duke's two adversaries had already managed to occupy almost all the places in thePolesine
Polesine (; ; ) is a geographic and historic area in the north-east of Italy whose limits varied through centuries; it had also been known as Polesine of Rovigo for some time.
Nowadays it corresponds with the province of Rovigo in the viewpoint ...
and plunder the Ferrara countryside. King Ferrante, who for the past war of Otranto found himself tired and impoverished, did not dare to enter the war, but in the end also pushed by the will of the Duke of Calabria, resolved to help his son-in-law and daughter, with the aim also of preventing the Venetians and the Pope from increasing their territories. Then the King wanted to be advised privately and in public and it was suggested that Ferrara had to be defended, since defeated Hercules, the Pope and the Venetians would have done the same thing with him, in fact both claimed the Kingdom of Naples. In addition to the King, the Florentines and Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini,
, regent of the Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...
for his nephew Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza took up arms to help Ferrara, with the resolution that the Florentines and the King harass the Pope and Ludovico troubled the borders of the Venetians, so than that Republic, having to defend the borders in many points harassed Ferrara with less impetus.
He then moved the Duke of Calabria with a flowery army in favor of Duke Ercole, but his having denied passage to the March of Ancona
The March of Ancona ( or ''Anconetana'') was a frontier march centred on the city of Ancona and later Fermo then Macerata in the Middle Ages. Its name is preserved as an Italian region today, the Marche, and it corresponds to almost the entir ...
by the papal men at arms, turned to plague the lands of the Church and besieged by the favor of the Colonna Colonna is an Italian word for column. The name Colonna may refer to:
People
* Colonna family, a noble family from Rome
* Colonna (surname), an Italian surname
Places
;Italy
* Colonna, Lazio, a ''comune'' in the Province of Rome
* Colonna, Cit ...
and Savelli the same city of Rome; but Virginio Orsini
Gentile Virginio Orsini (c. 1434 – 8 January 1497) was an Italian condottiero and vassal of the papal throne and the Kingdom of Naples, mainly remembered as the powerful head of the Orsini family during its feud with Pope Alexander VI (Rod ...
, Count of Tagliacozzo
Tagliacozzo (Neapolitan language, Marsicano: ') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, central Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
History
Tagliacozzo lies in an ar ...
, and Albe, seeing that Rome was in the thick of things, wanting to show himself religious and loving towards the Papal State, left this enterprise in the pay of the Duke of Calabria and courageously set out to defend the city.
Meanwhile Roberto Malatesta da Rimini, captain of the Venetians, went to help the Pope, and the duke withdrew to Velletri
Velletri (; ; ) is an Italian ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring communes are Rocca di Papa, Lar ...
, where, forced to go to a place called Campomorto, he was engaged in battle, where the duke's army was defeated. Alfonso managed to escape miraculously thanks to four hundred Janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
, who remained in the Terra di Otranto
The Terra di Otranto, or Terra d'Otranto (in English, Land of Otranto), is an historical and geographical region of Apulia, largely corresponding to the Salento peninsula, anciently part of the Kingdom of Sicily and later of the Kingdom of Napl ...
under him, who militated, who with great virtue, carried him safely to the walls of Nettuno
Nettuno is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy, south of Rome. A resort city and agricultural center on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it has a population of approximately 50,000.
Economy
It has a ...
. The main men-at-arms of his army remained in the power of the enemy, who, entering prisoners in Rome, adorned the triumph of the victor.
When the Duke of Calabria and the King found themselves in the greatest danger they had ever been, the death of Roberto Malatesta occurred shortly after the victory, and the Pope found himself without a captain and therefore unable to continue the war, he asked for peace and left the alliance with the Venetians came close to the king, allowing the Duke of Calabria to pass through his territories, who with two thousand horses went to the defense of Ferrara.
Wanting the Pope to allay the discords between the potentates of Italy, he wrote to the Venetians that he had to return everything they had occupied to the Duke of Ferrara, but they refused to do so, and despite the Pope having abandoned them, they stubbornly pursued the war, and also astonishing King Ferrante, they called in Italy the Duke of Lorraine
The kings and dukes of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were ...
, pretender to the throne of Naples by virtue of his ties with the Angevins, hoping that the duke would meet that of Milan, who was camped in the countryside of Rome, to convince him to ally with the Venetians. Their plan failed, however, because while that war lasted, it was administered by the duke with so much virtue and fortune, that if Ludovico Duke of Milan did not disband from the league, he would have taken away all the mainland from the Venetians.
Meanwhile, Pope Sixtus, upon the requisition of King Ferrante, excommunicated and banned the Venetians for disturbing the peace of Italy. By this means, the King sent his son Federico with fifty galleys to the sea of Ancona
Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...
to damage the lands of the Venetians. The following spring, the Venetians put into the sea an army of one hundred and twenty woods with troops commanded by the Duke of Lorraine, René II, who occupied Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east.
Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...
, Nardò
Nardò ( or ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the Province of Lecce.
Lies on a lowland area placed at south-west of its Province, its border includes part of the Ionian coast of Salento.
For centuries, i ...
, and Monopoli
Monopoli (; ) is a town and comune, municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014), ...
with resistance, as well as other smaller places in the Otranto area. The King, deeply afraid of the loss of these places, in order not to receive more damage, asked for peace, which he obtained on 27 August 1484 with the following condition:
The places that had been occupied in Lombardy by the Duke of Calabria were returned to the Venetians and they released the territories occupied in the duchy of Ferrara, Gallipoli, Nardò and Monopoli with all the lands they had occupied in the Kingdom of Naples.
Second conspiracy of the barons (1485-1486)
King Ferrante, although a very prudent prince, for the great affection he bore to the Duke Don Alfonso, for his old age, and for the love and caresses of his new bride, was disheartened by low affections, and seeing that he trusted a lot in the value of duke, gave him almost all the reins of the government. Alfonso despised the barons, in fact, he always used to tell his confidants that if the barons had not been able to help their king in dire need during the war in Otranto, he wanted to teach him how the subjects must behave with their sovereign, assuring him that by oppressing the barons would have favored the people they exploited; and to spread the word of his opposition, Alfonso decided to place a crest broom on the helmet and some pincers in the saddle of the horse, demonstrating that he wanted to annihilate them. All this, combined with Ferrante's centralist government and Alfonso's cruelty towards the barons, led in 1485 to a second attempt at revolt. The barons, who had conceived a great hatred towards Alfonso, and feeling terrified by these threats, began to think how to get rid of it. Meanwhile Sixtus had died and his successor, Pope Innocent VIII, after having lifted the excommunication of the Venetians that Sisto had given him, wanted to re-establish the payment of the census in the kingdom of Naples. The King on 29 June 1485 (the day set for payment) had sent Antonio d'Alessandro as his orator to Rome to present to the Pope the white horse in effect for the investiture, but the Pope did not want to receive it, so much so that Antonio was forced to make a public protest. On the other hand, the Barons, seeing the dissatisfaction of the Pope, thought of having recourse to him to be supported. The leaders and authors of this conspiracy were Francesco Coppola, Count of Sarno and Antonello Petrucci secretary of the King. The many riches and the many extraordinary favors that the King did to these two characters made them enter into the hatred and envy of many, especially the Duke of Calabria, who could not contain himself in saying in public that his Father in order to enrich them had impoverished himself. The barons who conspired were Antonello Sanseverino,Prince of Salerno
This page is a list of the rulers of the Principality of Salerno.
Salerno was a Lombard Principality in southern Italy in the latter centuries of the first millenium.
When Prince Sicard of Benevento was assassinated by Radelchis I of Benevento, ...
, Pirro Del Balzo, Prince of Altamura
Altamura (; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Altopiano delle Murge, Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. , i ...
, the Prince of Bisignano
Bisignano ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks. The town has historically bee ...
, the Marquis del Vasto
Vasto ( Abruzzese: '; , ) is a ''comune'' on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti, in southern Abruzzo, Italy. During the Middle Ages it was called ''Guastaymonis'', '' Vasto d'Aimone'' or ''Waste d'Aimone''. Fascist Italy called the city ...
, the Duke of Atri
The House of Acquaviva is an aristocratic Italian family from Naples. The head of the family was Duke of Atri in the Abruzzo from the 15th century, and Count of Conversano after an Orsini family marriage in 1546, among other titles.
History
The ...
, the Duke of Melfi, the Duke of Nardò, the Count of Lauria, the Count of Mileto
Mileto ( Calabrian: ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about south of Vibo Valentia.
Mileto is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of ...
, the Count of Nola and many other knights. These, gathered in Melfi for the wedding between Ippolita Sanseverino and Troiano Caracciolo, son of Giovanni Duca di Melfi, sent a messenger to Pope Innocent to ask for help and the Pope gladly accepted the undertaking..
Since both John Duke of Anjou and René
René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus.
René is the masculine form of the name ( Renée being the feminin ...
his father had died, the Pontiff pushed Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Du ...
to send René Duke of Lorraine to conquer the kingdom of Naples, of which he would have invested him, as long as he was always faithful to the Holy Church. Meanwhile, Alfonso Duke of Calabria, having discovered the conspiracy, suddenly took possession of the County of Nola and conquered Nola
Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship.
...
, incarcerating the two children and the Count's wife, then leading them to the prisons of Castel Nuovo
Castel Nuovo (; ; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (; ; ' Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and ...
in Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. When the other conspirators learned what Alfonso had done, fearing that he would do the same with their fiefs, they openly began to arm themselves and revolt. In an instant the Kingdom was turned upside down: broken roads, no businesses, closed court
A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...
s and every place full of confusion.
King Ferrante, shaken by these tumults, tried to quell them. The Prince of Bisignano
Bisignano ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks. The town has historically bee ...
, in order to give the other barons time to arm themselves, began to make a peace treaty with Ferrante who apparently seemed very willing to accept, but in reality, he had no intention of giving him anything. The one therefore tried with simulation to deceive the other, the barons proposed to the king very impertinent conditions; but they were all agreed. When they had to be signed, since the prince of Salerno and many barons resided in Salerno
Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...
, the prince of Bisignano asked the king to send Don Frederick to Salerno for greater safety and sign them in his name. The King sent Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Given name
Nobility
= Anhalt-Harzgerode =
* Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
= Austria =
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...
who was received by the Prince and the Barons, who greeted him with signs of esteem. Frederick was a prince endowed with rare and incomparable virtues, handsome, with very sweet behavior, moderate and modest, so much so that he was loved by all and of habits opposed to his brother Duke of Calabria.
Frederick therefore entered Salerno with the firm hope of concluding the peace; but one day the Prince of Salerno, having summoned the barons to his Palace and having Frederick enter the Castle in an eminent room, began with much eloquence to persuade him to take the kingdom they were offering him so that, having chased Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
, he would rest under his clemency, and certainly the old King would not have been offended by this, on the contrary he would have favored the will of men and of God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
. In short, he influenced the prince with great ardor, so much so that each baron believed that Frederick would not refuse the gift; but this prince who had neither ambition, nor immoderate thirst to dominate, but only virtue, after having thanked for the offer, very placidly replied that if by granting him the kingdom he had been under their control, he would have gladly accepted the gift, but Not being able to take possession of the kingdom, if not violating all the laws, the paternal will and the reason of his brother, he refused. When the conspirators understood Frederick's resolution, they turned pale, and seeing that they had to carry out the conspiracy, they imprisoned Frederick and to invigorate the Pope's soul they raised the Papal flags.
Ferrante, infuriated by the incident, threatened to declare war on the Pope and sent the Duke of Calabria with a large army to the borders of the kingdom. The Duke of Calabria, before entering the war against the Papal State, declared that he was going not to offend the Holy See, but only to defend himself and free the kingdom from the snares of the rebels and declared that he was and always would be an obedient son of the Pontiff and of the Apostolic See..
Ferrante then published a proclamation with which he ordered all the clergy of the kingdom who resided in the Roman Court and had bishops, archbishops and benefits in the kingdom, to present themselves within fifteen days in his presence and to reside in their churches. Not having wanted to obey, the Archbishop of Salerno
The Archdiocese of Salerno-Campagna-Acerno () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Campania, southern Italy, created in 1986. The historic Archdiocese of Salerno was in existence from the tenth century, having been elevated from a ...
and the Bishops of Miletus and Teano, who were in Rome, were deprived of their income.
He then gathered another army, of which he gave the command to Ferrandino Ferrandino is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (writer) (born 1958), Italian comic book author and novelist
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (politician) (born 1963), Italian MEP
*Mark Ferrandino
Mark Steven Ferrandi ...
, prince of Capua
This is a list of the rulers of the Principality of Capua.
Lombard rulers of Capua Gastalds and counts
The gastalds (or counts) of Capua were vassals of the princes of Benevento until the early 840s, when Gastald Landulf began to clamour for the i ...
, his nephew and eldest son of the Duke of Calabria
Duke of Calabria was the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu of the royal ...
. To compensate for the tender age of the prince, who was also very young, he gave him as companions the Count of Fondi
Fondi (; Southern Laziale: ''Fùnn'') is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. As of 2017, the city had a population of 39,800. The city has experienced steady population growth si ...
, Maddaloni Maddaloni (Neapolitan language, Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta, about southeast of Caserta, with stations on the railways from Caserta to Benevento and from Caserta to Naples.
Main sights
Th ...
, and Marigliano
Marigliano is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy.
The town lies 19 km from Naples. Nearby towns include: Acerra, Brusciano, Mariglianella, Nola, San Vitaliano, Scisciano, Somma Vesuviana ...
, and also sent another army to Apulia
Apulia ( ), also known by its Italian language, Italian name Puglia (), is a Regions of Italy, region of Italy, located in the Southern Italy, southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Strait of Ot ...
, led by his son Duke of Sant'Angelo Francis, to control those lands.
Pope Innocent, terrified by the preparations for war, not seeing the appearance of René Duke of Lorraine, invited by him to conquer the kingdom, asked for help from the Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetians might refer to:
* Masters of Venetian painting in 15th-16th centuries
* ...
who were powerful in Italy at the time, promising him that, after the conquest of the kingdom, he would offer him good part of that, but the Venetians did not accept the offer and still neutrally tried to support both the Pope and the King, suitably for their own interests. Meanwhile, the Duke of Calabria had invaded the Papal State, and after having fought many battles, he had managed to get to the gates of Rome, laying siege to it. In the meantime, Ferrante tried, through tricks and deceptions, to bring the conspiring barons to his side.
The Pope, after three months, seeing neither René appear nor rescued by the Venetians, increasingly annoyed by the College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals (), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. there are cardinals, of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, ...
and by the complaints of many soldiers and barons of the kingdom (who devastated the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...
for not getting the pay from the Pontiff ), finally decided to enter into a peace treaty and persuade the barons to agree with the King. The Barons, unable otherwise, accepted the agreement, which on 12 August 1486, with the participation of the Archbishop of Milan
The Archdiocese of Milan (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy which covers the areas of Milan, Monza, Lecco and Varese. It has long maintained its own Latin liturgical rite usage, the Amb ...
, the Count of Tendiglia, Ambassadors of the King of Spain and Sicily, he was accepted in the name of King Ferrante by Giovanni Pontano
Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano (), was a humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto, in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after the death of Antonio Beccadelli in 1471, and the ...
, famous scholar of those times. Among the conditions of the treaty was that the King recognized the Roman Church, paying him the usual income, as well as the chinea
The Chinèa was the name attached to a tribute paid by the Kings of Naples as vassals to the Popes. The tribute was apparently first recognized by the Norman King of Sicily in 1059. The Chinea reached its greatest magnitude from about 1550 to 1776 ...
, and stopped harassing the barons.
The Duke of Milan, Ferdinand the Catholic
Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
King of Aragon and Sicily and Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...
were the ones who signed the agreement between Ferrante and the Barons..
Pope Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...
, after the peace treaty, was a close friend of the king throughout his life and pleased him in everything he asked of him. On 4 June 1492 he sent a bull at his request in which he declared that after the death of Ferrante the successor of the kingdom would be his eldest son Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
Duke of Calabria, in compliance with the bulls of Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Republic of Venice, Venetian, and a nephew ...
and Pius II
Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464.
Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...
, his predecessors; and in the absence of the Duke of Calabria, Ferrandino Ferrandino is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (writer) (born 1958), Italian comic book author and novelist
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (politician) (born 1963), Italian MEP
*Mark Ferrandino
Mark Steven Ferrandi ...
should have succeeded..
Ferrante's revenge on the barons
The barons, although reassured by thePope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
and the King of Spain and Sicily, knew Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
's cruelty and Ferrante's lack of faith towards them, remaining greatly afflicted by them. Pietro di Guevara, Grand Seneschal, died precisely of this affliction. After the peace, the barons, gathered together, fortified themselves in their fortresses; but the Duke of Calabria and King Ferrante, having them in their hands, tried to deceive them, offering them security and showing them their humanity. Many barons, deceived, were reassured, but the Prince of Salerno, suspecting the king's deception, escaped secretly from the kingdom and went to Rome, here seeing that the Pope had no intention of renewing the war, if he went in France.
Ferrante and Alfonso, in fact, imperiously felt the need to take revenge on the two traitor rioters, Coppola and Petrucci. The propitious moment was the celebration of the wedding of Marco, son of the Count of Sarno
Sarno is a town and ''comune'' and former Latin Catholic bishopric of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 20 km northeast from the city of Salerno and 60 km east of Naples by the main railway.
Overview
It lies at the foo ...
with the daughter of the Duke of Amalfi
Medieval Amalfi was ruled, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, by a series of dukes (), sometimes called ''dogi'' (singular: ''doge''), corresponding with the republic of Venice, a maritime rival throughout the Middle Ages. Before the title of Du ...
, nephew of the King, whose party took place in the great hall of the Castel Nuovo
Castel Nuovo (; ; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (; ; ' Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and ...
. All souls were filled with immense jubilation when suddenly they were arrested and destined with the others to last torture. Ferrante also imprisoned Francesco Coppola, Count of Sarno
Sarno is a town and ''comune'' and former Latin Catholic bishopric of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 20 km northeast from the city of Salerno and 60 km east of Naples by the main railway.
Overview
It lies at the foo ...
, the Secretary Petrucci, the Counts of Carinola
Carinola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located c. northwest of Naples, c. northwest of Caserta, and c. southeast of Rome.
Carinola borders the following municipalities: Falciano del ...
and Policastro
Policastro may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions
;Places
* Policastro Bussentino, an Italian town and hamlet of Santa Marina, Campania
* Petilia Policastro, an Italian town and municipality in the province of Crotone, Calabria
;Dioceses
* The ...
with his sons, Aniello Arcamone brother-in-law of the Secretary and Giovanni Impoù Catalano. After trials and other solemnities, they were condemned to the deprivation of all honors Titles, Dignity, Offices, Cavalry, Feuds, nobility and were condemned to be beheaded
Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and all vertebrate animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common c ...
. Their assets were then incorporated into the tax authorities.. Moving, however, was the speech and farewell that the Count of Sarno pronounced to his children from the top of the gallows.
After this episode, on 10 February the king imprisoned the Prince of Altamura
Altamura (; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of Apulia, in southern Italy. It is located on one of the hills of the Altopiano delle Murge, Murge plateau in the Metropolitan City of Bari, southwest of Bari, close to the border with Basilicata. , i ...
, the Prince of Bisignano
Bisignano ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza, part of the Calabria region of southern Italy. It is situated on hills in the Crati valley, between the Pollino and Sila National Parks. The town has historically bee ...
, the Duke of Melfi
Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768.
Geography
On a ...
, the Duke of Nardò
Nardò ( or ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the Province of Lecce.
Lies on a lowland area placed at south-west of its Province, its border includes part of the Ionian coast of Salento.
For centuries, i ...
, the Count of Morcone
Morcone is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Benevento in the Italy, Italian region Campania, located about 70 km northeast of Naples and about 25 km northwest of Benevento. The villages (Contrade) of Morcone include: Canep ...
, the Count of Lauria
Lauria is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, southern Italy, situated near the borders of Calabria. It is a walled, medieval town on the steep side of a hill, with another portion of municipal territory in the plai ...
, the Count of Mileto
Mileto ( Calabrian: ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about south of Vibo Valentia.
Mileto is the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of ...
, the Count of Noja
Noja is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria
Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a ...
, the Duke of Sessa
Duke of Sessa is a Spanish noble title awarded to Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba by Ferdinand II in 1507.
It was the fifth ducal title bestowed on Gonzalo, after the ducal titles of Santángelo (1497), Terranova (1502), Andría (1507) and M ...
and many other Knights. Stimulated by the Duke of Calabria
Duke of Calabria was the traditional title of the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Naples after the accession of Robert of Naples. It was also adopted by the heads of certain Houses that had once claimed the Kingdom of Naples in lieu of the royal ...
made almost all of them die secretly; but to make the world believe that they were still alive the king sent them for a long time the provision for their needs. In the end, however, having been seen the executioner with a gold chain that belonged to the prince of Bisignano, the rumor spread that they had been slaughtered, closed in some sacks and thrown into the sea on a night of great storm.
The consequences
After this episode the clamors of the sovereigns arose from all sides for having violated the faith on which the sacred pact that granted forgiveness to all the barons was based.Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
cleared himself and Ferrante did too, but in vain. The Pope then urged Charles VIII to invade the kingdom, however Ferrante with a new treaty averted the threat.. In this time almost the whole kingdom had a great shortage of food and everywhere people could be seen dying of hunger, but the providence of the King purely took notice, using every means to make the condition of his peoples less sad. The Neapolitans, grateful, by public decree struck medals in his honor, in which there was on one side the effigy of the king with the letters Ferdinandus DG Hierusalem, Siciliae Rex and on the other a woman dressed in long clothes, having in the right two ears of wheat and on the left a corba full of ears with the following inscription: "Frug. Ac. Ordo. Et- P. Neap. Opt. Princip".
King Ferdinand the Catholic, having understood that Ferrante had disobeyed the pact, began to complain to him, taking the pretext of conquering the kingdom of Naples. King Ferrante, having understood the dissatisfaction of the Catholic King, sent Giovanni Nauclerio to Spain to apologize for not having been able to do anything else since the restless barons began to plot new conspiracies against him. Giovanni, seeing that the Catholic king was dissatisfied with that embassy, began to organize a wedding with the help of Queen Joanna
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from . Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice, Jean, and Jeanne.
The earliest recorded occurrence of th ...
, wife of Ferrante and sister of the Catholic King, between Ferrandino, eldest son of the Duke of Calabria, and one of the Ferdinand II's daughters, but the negotiations were not concluded..
Last years
After so many political events, Ferrante continued to direct the state. Active and hardworking, he was respectful of the customs of the nation. After having enriched himself and enriched the state with the ruin of the barons, to keep the kingdom safe and therefore to keep the greatestcondottieri
Condottieri (; singular: ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian military leaders active during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The term originally referred specifically to commanders of mercenary companies, derived from the ...
of that century at his service, such as Gian Giacomo Trivulzio
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio (1440 or 1441 – 5 December 1518) was an Italian aristocrat and ''condottiero'' who held several military commands during the Italian Wars.
Biography
Trivulzio was born in Milan, where he studied, among others, wi ...
, the two Prospero
Prospero ( ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''.
Character
Twelve years before the play begins, Prospero is usurped from his position as the rightful Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio, ...
and Fabrizio Colonna
Fabrizio Colonna ( – 18 March 1520) was an Italian condottiero, a member of the powerful Colonna family. He was the son of Edoardo Colonna and Filippa Conti.
Fabrizio was born sometime before 1452. He was married to Agnese di Montefeltro ...
, Niccolò di Pitigliano
Niccolò di Pitigliano (1442–1510) was an Italian condottiero best known as the Captain-General of the Venetians during the Most Serene Republic's war against the League of Cambrai. He was a member of the powerful feudal family of the Orsini, ...
and many others, he began to fortify the fortresses of the capital again, without receiving a minimum of disturbance from these voluntary and pleasant operations.
Ferrante, with a Pragmatic entitled De scolaribus doctorandis, ordered his subjects to promote sciences in the capital
Capital and its variations may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital
** List of national capitals
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter
Econom ...
and after Naples he wanted only the city of L'Aquila
L'Aquila ( ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of the Province of L'Aquila and the Abruzzo region in Italy. , it has a population of 69,902. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valley of the A ...
to be granted the privilege of license to open a Studium.
In 1486 he participated in the war for the Duchy of Milan
The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...
in support of the Sforza
The House of Sforza () was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti of Milan, Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ...
.
In December 1491 Ferrante received a visit from a group of pilgrims returning from the Holy Land
The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...
. This group was led by William I, Landgrave of Lower Hesse
William I of Hesse () (4 July 1466 – 8 February 1515) was the Landgrave of Hesse ( Lower Hesse) from 1471 to 1493.
His parents were Louis the Frank (1438–1471) and Mechthild, daughter of Count Louis I of Württemberg. On 17 February 1488 i ...
.
On April 8, 1492, Lorenzo de' Medici
Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (), known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (; 1 January 1449 – 9 April 1492), was an Italian statesman, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic, and the most powerful patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Lore ...
died, and shortly after also Innocent VIII
Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...
. The Pope's successor was Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Kingdom of Valencia, Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death ...
and that of Lorenzo Piero de' Medici, who continued to be an ally of King Ferrante. Encouraged by Ludovico Sforza
Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini,
, in 1493 the French king Charles VIII, heir to the Angevin pretenders of Naples, was preparing to invade Italy for the conquest of the Kingdom, and Ferrante understood that he was facing the greatest danger he had ever faced. With an almost prophetic instinct, he warned the Italian princes against the calamity that was about to befall them, but the negotiations with Pope Alexander VI and Ludovico il Moro failed, and Ferrante died before having assured peace to his kingdom.
The end of the reign
Death and burial
King Ferrante, who up to 1493 with his prudence had maintained the peace both in the Kingdom and inItaly
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, knowing that France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
was preparing for war, began to reinforce the kingdom and to recruit armies to resist such a powerful enemy; but due to a great phlegm
Phlegm (; , ''phlégma'', "inflammation", "humour caused by heat") is mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that produced by the throat nasal passages. It often refers to respiratory mucus expelled by coughing, otherwise known as ...
and then fever
Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...
, on the fourteenth day of his infirmity, he died on January 25, 1494
Year 1494 ( MCDXCIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–December
* January 4 – The Cetinje Octoechos (Цетињски октоих, an Eastern Orthodox octoechos (liturgy), first to ...
, overwhelmed more by the sorrows of the soul than by age. This tenacious man maintained physical health and mental clarity until the end of his life; his sturdy and muscular body withered in old age and his thick dark hair, cut short in the prime of life, became long and white, but only a few serious illnesses are remembered of him.
Shortly before his death, not believing that his time had really come, he had his hair and jaws accommodated, which seemed to be falling, but, suddenly feeling faint, trembling said to the children and grandchildren who were around him these words: "My children, be blessed"; and turning to a crucifix he said:""Deus
''Deus'' (, ) is the Latin word for 'God (word), god' or 'deity'.
Latin ''deus'' and ''dīvus'' ('divine') are in turn descended from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''deiwos'', 'celestial' or 'shining', from the same root ( ...
, propitius esto mihi peccatori (God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, forgive my sins)", and immediately died.. The cause of his death was determined in 2006 to have been colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...
(mucinous adenocarcinoma type with mutation in the KRas
''KRAS'' ( Kirsten rat sarcoma virus) is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called K-Ras, a part of the RAS/MAPK pathway. The protein relays signals from outside the cell to the cell's nucleus. These signals instruct the ce ...
gene), by examination of his mummy. His remains show levels of carbon 13 and nitrogen 15 consistent with historical reports of considerable consumption of meat.Ottini L, Falchetti M, Marinozzi S, Angeletti LR, Fornaciari G (2010) Gene-environment interactions in the pre-Industrial Era: the cancer of King Ferrante I of Aragon (1431-1494).
Hum. Pathol. The death of this sovereign was preceded by huge earthquakes, which caused many buildings to collapse in Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
, Capua
Capua ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, located on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the Etruscan ''Capeva''. The ...
, Gaeta
Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The city has played ...
, and Aversa
Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical dome ...
. It is also said that on the day he was buried, the Mint of Naples had largely collapsed.
Ferrante's funeral, which was celebrated by order of Alfonso
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...
, was solemn, and neither the barons nor the primates of the city were second in giving him the extreme offices. Two funeral prayers were celebrated, one inside the Castel Nuovo
Castel Nuovo (; ; 'New Castle'), often called Maschio Angioino (; ; ' Angevin Keep'), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and ...
in the presence of the militias and the other in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore.
His embalmed corpse was placed in a chest covered with gold brocade
Brocade () is a class of richly decorative shuttle (weaving), shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in coloured silks and sometimes with gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli", comes from Italian langua ...
and was buried in the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore. His sepulcher can be seen in the sacristy of the basilica. His heart was enclosed with very sweet heights in a small golden urn engraved with the verses: "Fernandus senior, qui condidit aurea saecla (Ferdinand the elder, who founded the golden age). Hic felix Italum vivit in virum hours".
His death, unfortunately fatal, led to ruin not only his progeny and the kingdom, but showered him of innumerable evils throughout the Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
On the throne he was succeeded by his son Alfonso II of Naples
Alfonso II (4 November 1448 – 18 December 1495) was Duke of Calabria and ruled as King of Naples from 25 January 1494 to 23 January 1495. He was a soldier and a patron of Renaissance architecture and the arts.
Heir to his father Fe ...
, who in turn abdicated very soon in favor of his own son Ferrandino Ferrandino is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (writer) (born 1958), Italian comic book author and novelist
* Giuseppe Ferrandino (politician) (born 1963), Italian MEP
*Mark Ferrandino
Mark Steven Ferrandi ...
due to the much-feared invasion of Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable (; 30 June 1470 – 7 April 1498), was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. He succeeded his father Louis XI at the age of 13. His elder sister Anne acted as regent jointly with her husband Peter II, Du ...
, who in 1494 fell to Italy.
The move did not have the desired effects: the Aragonese lineage was by now dangerously vacillating and the imminent arrival of the French sovereign pushed many Neapolitan nobles to take sides with the invader, facilitating the future fall of the royals from the throne.
Appearance and personality
King Ferrante was of medium height, had a full head of brown hair, was dark-faced, and had a beautiful forehead and a proportionate waist. He was very robust and it was said that he was even endowed with superhuman strength, to the point that one day - as it is said - going to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Carmine to listen to mass, he met an angry bull sowing seeds in Piazza del Mercato and stopped him by grabbing him by a horn.
Ferrante was very graceful in reasoning, shrewd, modest, and patient to suffer things of his contrary genius, ready and grateful in giving an audience, resolute in negotiations, and a very right simulator. He was gifted with great courage and remarkable political ability. The buffoons were very welcome to him, and he gave them many thanks on a few occasions. He was a lover of hunting, especially the art of falconry. He was courteous and liberal, as for example, one day he donated 300 horses to a Genoese friend of his, called Olietto de Tiesso..
This sovereign was adorned with many letters and well versed in law, and he considered this science more necessary than any other for the rulers of peoples. He especially loved men of graceful mottos and poets and it is said that at their request he forgave those guilty of serious crimes. Ferrante greatly protected the sciences and letters and with great royal generosity he lavished on the men who were lovers of them and granted extensive privileges and aid to poor scholars. He was very fond of books, so much so that his library, called Aragonese, was celebrated as one of the main ones of those times. He was, as mentioned, a patron of the arts and a lover of letters, in fact he wrote a book containing someepistles and very elegant prayers called Militari, which was published in 1486, where his good taste for good letters can be seen. Pietro Napoli Signorelli cites two other letters with praise, one called Audiat hodierna die and the other Studebo quantum potero.
Although Sicily after the death of Alfonso I passed under the reign of Giovanni, King Ferrante wanted to make use of the title of King of Sicily, in fact in all the pragmatics and edicts read: Ferdinandus Arag. DG Rex Siciliae, Hierus, Ungariae, Valentiae etc.
Gaetano Canzano Avarna describes him as "selfish and ruthless, when he could promise himself some pleasure, he gladly obtained it, often at the expense of other people's unhappiness, not being scrupulous in this for that kind of hatred he had conceived for his fellow men, to whom he was happy to try those same goads that he himself had tried ". Indeed, if he generously remunerated those who had been loyal to his cause, such as Count Honored II Caetani, he was on the other hand severe, vindictive and cruel towards his enemies, and often resorted to deception and false promises in order to lure them in.
He organized numerous weddings of poor maidens and had a very rich tapestry that had been the property of Queen Giovanna II. After the King's death, the Duke of Ferrara bought it, who, seeing it by the Emperor Charles V in Reggio, in the Palazzo di Alfonso d'Este, was very amazed. Don Ferrante, with his virtues, left a Kingdom that he had led to greater greatness, perhaps more than any other sovereign who would have governed it, for which many famous writers mentioned him in their famous writings.
Ferrante was also very attached to music, for which he showed real enthusiasm. In fact, he constantly sought singers educated at the Burgundy school and expert organ builders, all who received a warm welcome in his court. Among the numerous personalities present in his court chapel we remember the Flemish music theorist and composer Johannes Tinctoris. Ferrante himself is credited with a certain skill as an instrumentalist.
Like his father, Ferrante was also a man of great faith: attached to religious ceremonial, he professed the same devotion to the cult of the Virgin, washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday and attended the mass on his knees.
He was modest in eating and in his manner of presenting himself, although elegant in his ways and in dressing. He inherited his father's love for ceremonial and magnificence, as evidenced by the welcome given to a Burgundian embassy in 1472, one of the greatest manifestations of princely splendor of the time, according to Pontano, and the celebrations on the occasion of the marriage of the Duke of Calabria with Ippolita Maria Sforza.
He was fascinated, like other princes, by the sumptuous ceremonies of the Orders of chivalry, and having control of the Aragonese Order of the Giara, also known as the Giglio, he also founded the Order of the Ermine with the motto "Malo mori quam foedari", which conferred with liberality, receiving Orders such as the Golden Fleece and the Garter in exchange. His youthful passion for the more mundane aspects of cavalry, tournaments, and horseback riding lasted well beyond maturity, helping him to maintain physical strength.
He was a very passionate man, he had an almost pathological attraction towards young women and, despite the numerous lovers and concubines, he loved very much his wife Isabella di Chiaramonte, a woman of exceptional virtues, whose death greatly afflicted him. As a father he was very present and very fond of his offspring, especially known is the strong affection shown for his daughters and for the eldest Eleonora.
He loved children very much and liked to surround himself with them. In fact, when Eleonora herself went to visit Naples in 1477, Ferrante persuaded her to leave at his court, in addition to her newborn, also his little granddaughter Beatrice, who later grew up like a daughter. He also took under his own protection the two orphans of Count Don Diego Cavaniglia, or Troiano and Nicolina, as he had also protected Diego himself, who was very soon orphaned of a father.
When he imprisoned Marino Marzano for having betrayed him in the conspiracy of the barons, Ferrante, moved by tenderness towards his family, took care of them himself and particularly of his niece Camilla, who was educated at his court. The little Maria Balsa, daughter of the despot of Serbia or more probably of the lord of Misia, had also found refuge at his court, who together with her aunt Andronica Cominata fled from Greece invaded by the Turks.
Ferrante's Naples
Ferrante managed to lay the foundations for the formation of an embryo of a modern state thanks to the creation of new political institutions such as the Collateral Council and the consolidation of financial structures such as the Regia Camera della Sommaria.
The skills of Ferrante and his diplomats, skilled in weaving alliances in order to achieve Neapolitan hegemony in the system of Italian states, the fruits of the sovereign's economic strategy with the introduction of the art of silk and printing, politics of promotion and cultural attraction, the severe exercise of power also through the repression of the conspiracy of the barons led The Kingdom of Naples, with intellectuals of the caliber of Pontano, Panormita and others, to participate as a protagonist in Humanism and the Renaissance.
He was responsible for a first expansion of the walls of Naples, which was followed by a second one in 1499. The Aragonese wall of Naples, in fact, was begun under his reign, in June 1484. Ferrante surrounded Naples with walls towards the eastern side and reduced the walls erected by Giovanna II from the Dogana del Sale to the Corregge road into a larger form, today's Via Medina. On 15 June 1488 he placed the first stone of them behind the Carmelo monastery, where a tower was built, called Torre Spinelli, which took its name from the architect who had erected it, Francesco Spinelli. The walls were led up to the monastery of San Giovanni in Carbonara, who at that time was locked inside the city walls and gave the direction of this work to the architect Carlo Majano, who added the Lavinaro road to the city. In 1476, when he moved the customs office near the port, he ordered that the arsenal be moved under the walls of the royal palace.
Considered one of the greatest expressions of fifteenth-century defensive architecture, the walls stemmed from the need to strengthen the protections of the capital, especially in the aftermath of the Ottoman capture of Otranto in 1480. It replaced the obsolete Angevin curtain with a structure more responsive to the new defensive needs, deriving from the introduction of artillery. The new structure started from the Durazzo castle of the Sperone, of which the Brava tower is still recognizable today, with the Torre Il Trono. The development of the new fortification, delimiting the eastern side of the capital, was about two kilometers long and included twenty powerful cylindrical towers embanked at the base, including four gates. The thickness of the sections of curtain connecting the aforementioned towers reached in some cases even 7 meters and consisted of blocks of yellow tuff. The side facing the countryside was covered with blocks of high-strength gray piperno. Each tower was completely filled so that it could offer maximum passive resistance to the firing of the siege bombers. During the sixteenth century, in the viceregal period, the walls on the eastern side survived intact the renovation that took place under Pedro of Toledo, which led to the construction of a modern bastion wall to delimit the city. Contrary to the total demolition suffered by the latter starting from the mid-eighteenth century, the eastern walls resisted substantially intact until the post-unitary period and then underwent a partial demolition during the rehabilitation works.
Under his reign the construction of the Castel Nuovo was completed, the magnificent palace of Poggioreale was commissioned by his son Alfonso and the beautiful Palazzo Como was erected, now home to the Filangieri Museum (built between 1464 and 1490), Porta Nolana, the Palazzo Diomede Carafa (1470), the facade of the Palazzo Sanseverino, now the Church of Gesù Nuovo (1470), as well as the Porta Capuana (defined as the most beautiful door of the Renaissance together with the door of San Pietro in Perugia).
Don Ferrante reformed the studies of the university of Naples,. reopened in 1465 with a teaching staff of twenty-two members, supporting it much more than his father had, and allowed the study to be added to the traditional course of study humanistic of Greek and Latin, even if, in reality, its purpose had perhaps been to restore the university monopoly of higher education under strict state control, as its founder Frederick II had conceived it . In 1478 he had such confidence in the possibilities offered by the University of Naplesto prohibit his subjects from studying or seeking a doctorate outside the Kingdom. Teachers were also recruited into the Kingdom and, among the few foreigners appointed, only the Florentine Francesco Pucci found the Neapolitan environment tempting enough to remain there forever. Furthermore, Ferrante managed to ensure that the university flourished through learned professors; and for this purpose he invited Costantino Lascaris with his gracious diploma to come and teach the Greek language, assigning him a large salary corresponding to the fame of his name. Ferrante, with a Pragmatic entitled De scolaribus doctorandis, ordered his subjects to promote sciences in the capital and wanted the city of Aquila to grant itself the privilege of license to open a Studium.
Ferrante promoted Renaissance culture and art with his patronage, surrounding himself with numerous artists and writers who flourished in his kingdom such as: Pico della Mirandola, Marsilio Ficino, Bartolomeo Platina, Jacopo della Pila, Raffaele Volaterrano, Antonio Fiorentino della Cava, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello, Francesco Del Tuppo, Giovanni Giocondo, Giovanni Francesco Mormando, Francesco Laurana, Pietro da Milano, Cola Rapicano, Cristoforo Majorana, Tommaso and Giovan Tommaso Malvito, Ermolao Barbaro the Younger and the Elder, Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano, Bernardo Rossellino, Francesco Pagano, Riccardo Quartararo, Pietro Befulco, Novello da San Lucano, Guido Mazzoni, Niccolò Antonio known as Colantonio, Angiolillo Arcuccio, Antonio De Ferraris, Poliziano, Teodoro Gaza, Cola Rapicano, Pietro Alemanno, Giovanni Pontano, Antonio Beccadelli and many others. The Panormita was the second secretary of the King and President of the Chamber. Il Pontano succeeded Beccadelli as rector of the renowned Academy of Naples founded by his predecessor (one of the first academies founded in Europe, the first of the Kingdom of Naples and the oldest in Italystill existing), of which he was the main representative and which was later named after him, whose most illustrious students were: Sannazaro, Antonio Flaminio, Cardinal Sadoleto, Giano Anisio, Giovanni Cotta, Andrea Sabatini, Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva and many others.
Ferrante completed the construction and decoration of the Castel Nuovo using artisans of almost exclusively Italian origin such as Pietro da Milano, one of the artists called by Alfonso I, who returned with Francesco Laurana in 1465 to complete the triumphal arch and to make some busts of the royal family. By order of Ferrante, as a lasting warning, the splendid bronze door of the Castel Nuovo, called La Vittoriosa, was cast in bronze, through the artillery removed by the enemies, with the representation of the king's triumph in the conspiracy of the barons, the work of Guglielmo Dello Monaco, a Parisian who had served Alfonso as a manufacturer of cannons, clocks and bells. On the door appear in six pictures expressed in bas - relief some events of the conspiracy: in the first of them, from the left side of the beholder, the apparent peace of the Duke of Sessa is scrolled, with the verses that say: "PRINCEPS CVM IACOBO CVM DIOFEBO QVEM DOLOSE / VT REGEM PERMANT COLLOQVIVM SIMVLANT". Likewise in the first one on the right is represented the King who valiantly puts the conspirators to flight with the verses: "HOS REX MARTIPOTENS ANIMOSIOR HECTORE CLARO / SENSIT VT INSIDIAS ENSE MICANTE FVGAT". The other paintings represent the siege with the taking of Troy and the surrender of Acquaviva, with the carved verses that say: TROIA DEDIT OUR REQVIEM FINEMQ (VE) LABORI / IN QVA HOSTEM FVDI FORTITER AC POPVLI "; " HOSTEM TROIANIS FERNANDVS VICIT IN ARVIS / SICVT POMPEVM CESAR IN EHACTIS"; " HINC TROIAM VERSVS MAGNO CONCVSSA FEAR / CASTRA MOVENT HOSTES NE SVBITO PEREANT"; "AQVA DIA FORTEM CEPIT REX FORTIOR VRBEM/ ANDEGAVOS PELLENS VIRIBVS EXIMII".
Towards the end of his life, Ferrante also planned the construction of a large building, a huge Renaissance-style palace perhaps intended to accommodate the administration and the court of justice, but which was never built.
Ferrante erected the Porta del Carmine and that of San Gennaro and for this work he spent 28466 ducats, on his order the table bridges placed in front of each gate of the city were removed and on the side of the Carmelo church he had that door built that can be seen adorned of travertine stones, he had the Porta Capuana transported, which was near the Castel Capuano on the sides of the church of Santa Caterina in Formiello, where it was magnificently built with sculptures worked in marvelous fine marbles, he had an armory built such as to be able to contain weapons for sixty thousand soldiers, completed the famous tower that now serves as the bell tower of the Basilica of San Lorenzo Maggiore begun by Charles II, for his arrangement the cenacle of the friars of Santa Maria la Nova was painted by the brothers Pietro and Ippolito del Donzello and he also had many places of worship repaired, adorning them with precious furnishings.
To his Christian piety we owe the reconstruction of the Cathedral Church of Naples, which almost completely collapsed due to the terrible earthquakes of 5 and 30 December 1456, causing the death of thirty thousand people in the capital. He wanted many Neapolitan noble families to participate in this reconstruction, which had patronage chapels there, allowing them to place their noble weapons on each pillar of the chapels to rebuild. In Novello da San Lucano, he entrusted him with the reconstruction of the basilica of San Domenico Maggiore, after the ruin of a large part of the building due to the previous earthquake. The De Dominicihe says that the pillars were placed by him, the ceiling was renovated, and the ornaments of the chapel were completed, but in the biography of the del Donzello, contained in his work, he also attributes to them the direction of some works. Terminio adds that, as an example to Ferrante, many nobles contributed to the expense of new pillars, at the top of which they placed their insignia.
In 1486, Ferrante commissioned the architect and military engineer Francesco di Giorgio Martini to expand the fortress of Taranto built by the Byzantines, in order to replace the medieval type of towers conceived for the plumbing defense. In fact, the use of cannons following the discovery of gunpowder required wide and low circular towers to cushion the impact of cannonballs, equipped with ramps or slides that allowed the pieces to be moved from one tower to the other. 'other, as well as equipped with a large and sturdy parapet with specific openings for the guns. The new fortification was to include seven towers, four of which joined to form a quadrilateral, and the remaining three aligned along the moat to the Mar Piccolo. The four towers were respectively dedicated to San Cristofalo, San Lorenzo, the Bandiera and the Vergine Annunziata.
Thus was born the Aragonese castle of the city, and in 1491 the triangular-shaped ravelin between the Torre della Bandiera and the San Cristofalo tower was added on the side facing the Great Sea. The castle was completed in 1492, as can be seen from the engraving of a walled plaque on the "Porta Paterna" together with the Aragonese coat of arms quartered with the tripartite of Angiò family:
''"Ferdinandus Rex Divi Alphonsi Filius Divi Ferdinandi Nepos Aragonius Arcem Ha(n)c Vetustate Collabente(m) Ad Im(pe)tus Tormentorum Substine(n)dos Quae (Ni)mio Feruntur Spiritu In Ampliorem Firmioremq(ue) Formam Restituit Millesimo CCCCLXXXXII"''.
"King Ferdinand of Aragon, son of the divine Alfonso and grandson of the divine Ferdinand, rebuilt this castle in a larger and more solid form due to old age, so that it could withstand the impetus of the bullets that is endured with maximum vigor - 1492."
Under Ferrante, the very rich royal library founded by Alfonso in Castel Capuano continued to grow at an impressive rate, thanks to purchases, gifts and the confiscation of the collections of the rebel barons.
The use of Neapolitan as the official language of the Kingdom promoted in the court the fashion of a poetry in which the cultured and the popular tradition merged, in a way not unlike what happened in Florence with Lorenzo de 'Medici. This culture also showed more accessible outside of court, spreading the literacy among the nobility and encouraging the growth of a popular literature that finds its best example in the Rookie of Masuccio Salerno.
The art for which Ferrante showed real enthusiasm, and in which his tastes were closest to those of Alfonso, was music : he continually sought out singers educated at the Burgundy school; expert organ builders received a warm welcome and in the early seventies Johannes Tinctoris arrived in Naples to complete the array of talents active in the court chapel and to develop the tradition of secular polyphony, so that the Neapolitan city excelled over the whole Italy for most of the century. Johannes Tinctoris, who defined himself "chaplain and musician of the king of Sicily", performed important functions in the service of Ferrante: chaplain cantor (archicapellanus), instrumentalist of ribeca and vihuela de arco (later known as viola da gamba ), tutor, composer and legal counsel. Tinctoris had an intellectually prominent role at court and in October 1487 he was sent to Northern Europe to hire new singers for the royal chapel. Due to his excellent knowledge of languages and law, King Ferrante also ordered him to draw up an Italian translation of the articles of the Order of the Golden Fleece (Articuli et ordinatione of the Order of the Golden Fleece).
Furthermore, Ferrante established in Naples the first musical school in Italy and one of the first in Europe, which involved the major musicians of the time such as: Bernhard Hykaert, the aforementioned Tinctoris, Guglielmo Guarnier and Franchino Gaffurio, who from 1475 to 1478 covered the position of Master of the Chapel of the Royal Palace. In this period the works of Greek musical treatises such as Aristoxenus, author of the fundamental Elementa harmonica and Elementa rhytmica, Aristide Quintiliano, author of a De musica, fundamental for the in-depth treatment of the subject and " Institutio oratoria ", in which the author parallels rhetorical art, with the musical composition, which is able to arouse emotions, prodrome of what will be the theory of affects in the Neapolitan music school of the eighteenth century. This school founded by Ferrante was very important for the development of music in Italy but above all it determined the foundations of the nascent Neapolitan Music School.
His diplomacy was very expensive and to strengthen the finances, already proven by the patronage of Alfonso I, Ferrante introduced an austerity regime in the court and in the state apparatus, to facilitate commercial traffic for his vassals, he opened it no less in east that in the west, encouraged businesses and traders by launching a series of initiatives aimed at increasing trade exchanges with Venice, Pisa and Spain; it favored the migration from the countryside to the city and allowed the immigration of numerous Jews expelled from Spain through thedecree of the Alhambra issued by the Catholic kings. One of the refugees, Don Isaac Abrabanel, even received a position at the Neapolitan court of Ferrante which he also held under his successor, Alfonso II. Overall, the Neapolitan population increased rapidly and it was necessary to expand the city walls.
Among the many graces and wide privileges granted to Brindisi, he also gave her, for the loyalty shown to him, the privilege of minting coins, a privilege that he also granted to Capua, Chieti, Sulmona and L'Aquila. He ordered the latter to strike coins not different from those of the Neapolitan mint.
During his reign, the Royal House of Naples had nothing to envy in terms of splendor to the Courts of the major princes of Europe, given that Ferrante wanted to increase and introduce many arts, such as the art of silk weaving, introduced in Naples by Roger II of Sicily, the art of working wool in 1480, the art of goldsmiths, and the art of weaving gold drapes and brocades. To perfect it, he called Marino di Cataponte and Florence from Venice Francesco di Nero, paying them generously.
Museum of Mummies
Historian Jacob Burckhardt described Ferrante's recreational activities as follows: "his pleasures were of two kinds: he liked to have his opponents near him, either alive in well-guarded prisons, or dead and embalmed, dressed in the costume which they wore in their lifetime." Fearing no one, he would take great pleasure in conducting his guests on a tour of his prized "museum of mummies". Indeed, Ferdinand had a novel way of dealing with his enemies. After having them murdered, he had their bodies mummified. He kept them in a private ‘black museum’, dressed in the clothes that they had worn in life. If he suspected one of his subjects of plotting against him, he took him to visit the 'museum’ as a deterrent.Marriages and children
From his first wifeIsabella of Clermont
Isabella of Clermont ( – 30 March 1465), also known as Isabella of Taranto, was queen consort of Naples, Queen of Naples as the first wife of King Ferdinand I of Naples, and a feudatory of the kingdom as the holder and ruling Princess of the ...
he had six children:
* Alfonso II known as "the Squinter" (4 November 1448 - 18 December 1495), king of Naples from 1494 to 1495;
* Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It was the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages">Provençal dialect ...
(22 June 1450 - 11 October 1493), wife of Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara
Ercole I d'Este (English: ''Hercules I''; 26 October 1431 – 25 January 1505) was Duke of Ferrara from 1471 until 1505. He was a member of the House of Este. He was nicknamed ''North Wind'' and ''The Diamond''.
Biography
Ercole was born in 143 ...
;
* Frederick I Frederick I or Friedrich I may refer to:
* Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht.
* Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978)
* Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105)
* Frederick I ...
(October 16, 1451 - November 9, 1504), king of Naples from 1496 to 1501;
* Giovanni Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
(25 June 1456 - 17 October 1485), cardinal;
* Beatrice
Beatrice may refer to:
* Beatrice (given name)
Places In the United States
* Beatrice, Alabama, a town
* Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality
* Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...
(14 September or 16 November 1457 - 23 September 1508), queen of Hungary as wife of Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...
and queen of Bohemia and Hungary as wife of Vladislaus II of Hungary
Vladislaus II, also known as Vladislav, Władysław or Wladislas (; 1 March 1456 – 13 March 1516), was King of Bohemia from 1471 to 1516 and King of Hungary and King of Croatia from 1490 to 1516. As the eldest son of Casimir IV Jagiellon, he wa ...
;
* Francesco (December 16, 1461 - October 26, 1486), Duke of Sant'Angelo and Marquis of Bisceglie.
From his second wife Joanna of Aragon he had two children:
* Giovanna
Giovanna is an Italian feminine first name. It is the feminine counterpart of the masculine Giovanni (name), Giovanni, which in turn is the Italian form of John (given name), John; it is thus the Italian equivalent of Joan (given name), Joan, etc. ...
known as "Giovannella" (20 April 1479 - 27 August 1518), queen of Naples as consort of her nephew Ferdinand II of Naples
Ferdinand II (; 26 June 1467 – 7 September 1496) was Kingdom of Naples, King of Naples from 1495 to 1496. He was the son of Alfonso II of Naples and the grandson of Ferrante I of Naples.
At the start of the Italian Wars in 1495, Alfonso abdic ...
and subsequently briefly viceregina of Naples.
* Carlo (1480 - 26 October 1486), dead of typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...
.
From concubine Diana Guardato:
* Maria (1440 - 1460), wife of Antonio Todeschini Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi;
* Giovanna
Giovanna is an Italian feminine first name. It is the feminine counterpart of the masculine Giovanni (name), Giovanni, which in turn is the Italian form of John (given name), John; it is thus the Italian equivalent of Joan (given name), Joan, etc. ...
(1445 - 1501), wife of Leonardo Della Rovere (1445-1475), Duke of Arce and Sora;
* Ilaria, wife of Giovanni del Tevere, prefect of Rome and nephew of Sixtus IV;
* Enrico (... - 1478), eldest son and Marquis of Gerace.
From Marchesella Spitzata, sister of his chaplain and his equerry:
* Maria (1451 - ...).
From Piscicella Piscicelli:
* Cesare, Marquis of Santa Agata;
* Alonso d'Aragona (1460–1510), designated heir to Queen Charlotte of Cyprus, who was either married or engaged to Charla of Lusignan (1468 – in prison in Padua, 1480), a natural daughter of Charlotte's half brother, King James II of Cyprus
James II (; /1439 or 1440 – 10 July 1473) was the penultimate King of Cyprus (usurper), reigning from 1460/1464 until his death.
Archbishop of Nicosia
James was born in Nicosia as the illegitimate son of John II of Cyprus and Marietta d ...
. His young bride was captured by the queen's opponents and died in captivity shortly before her twelfth birthday. After her death, a marriage was proposed between him and Catherine Cornaro
Catherine Cornaro (; or ; ; 25 November 1454 – 10 July 1510) was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Cyprus, also holding the titles of Queen of Jerusalem and Queen of Armenia. She became queen consort of Cyprus by marriage to James II of ...
, but the plan came to nothing due to the interference of the Republic of Venice. Instead, Charlotte ceded her claims to the Cypriotic throne to her cousin, Charles I of Savoy
Charles I (28 March 1468 – 13 March 1490), called the Warrior, was the Duke of Savoy from 1482 to 1490 and titular king of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia from 1485 to 1490.
Life
Charles was son of Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy, and Yolande of ...
, in 1485. Alonso was made bishop of Chieti
Chieti (, ; , , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Southern Italy, east of Rome. It is the capital of the province of Chieti, in the Abruzzo, Abruzzo region.
In Italian, the adjectival form is ''teatino'' and inhabitants of Chieti ar ...
on 28 February 1488 and kept this office until 16 November 1496.
From Eulalia Ravignano:
* Maria Cecilia, first wife of Gian Giordano Orsini, Lord of Bracciano;
* Lucrezia (according to other sources daughter of Diana Guardato), wife of Onorato III Caetani, duke of Traetto, prince of Altamura and count of Fondi.
Controversial is the situation relating to the children of Giovannella Caracciolo, the most beautiful of the daughters of Count Giacomo di Brienza, whom Ferrante obtained by force in 1472 through agreements with his father, but without the consent of either the mother or the person directly concerned. Giovannella, who must have been very young (she is defined as a puta, that is a child), remained at court for about two years.Patrizia Mainoni (a cura di), ''Con animo virile, donne e potere nel Mezzogiorno medievale'', Viella, pp. 401-402. The Successes et tragic love by Silvio Ascanio Corona reports that she gave three children to Ferrante:
* Fernando de Aragón, 1st Duke of Montalto
Fernando de Aragón y Guardato, 1st Duke of Montalto (before 1494–1542) was the eldest bastard son of king Ferdinand I of Naples and Diana Guardato, one of his mistresses.
The addition "Montalto de Aragón" is in remembrance of his grandfath ...
, who for others is the son of Diana Guardato;
* Maria, wife of Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Vasto;
* Giovanna, wife of Ascanio Colonna.
Other sources say she is the mother of Cesare and Alfonso, whom the Successes indicate instead as children of Piscicella, as well as of Ferdinando, count of Arena and Stilo, and Leonora. It is clear that she could not be the mother of all of these, in relation both to her young age, to the short time spent at court, and to the well-known use of contraceptives that Alfonso had procured for his father from the East.
In mass culture
Literature
Ferrante is the protagonist: * of the homonymous tragedy "Ferrante" by Giuseppe Campagna (1842), inspired by the final events of the famous Conspiracy of the Barons of 1485–1486. of the novel " Of the forbidden amor - Neapolitan history of the fifteenth century " by Dino Falconio (2014), inspired by the alleged incestuous relationship that Ferrante would have entertained with his sister Eleonora. He also appears as a character in the novel " The Duchess of Milan" by Michael Ennis (1992), as well as in comics: * ''Gli 800 Martiri - La presa di Otranto'', by Franco Baldi and Giovanni Ballati (2017). * ''Sanseverino - Storia di una grande famiglia italiana'', by Giuseppe Rescigno and Antonio Pannullo (1994).Television
* In the 2011–2013 Canadian television series '' The Borgias'', Ferrante is played by actor Joseph Kelly. * In the 2013–2015 British-American fantasy series ''Da Vinci's Demons
''Da Vinci's Demons'' is a historical fantasy drama television series that presents a fictional account of Leonardo da Vinci's early life. The series was conceived by David S. Goyer and stars Tom Riley in the title role. It was developed and ...
'', Ferrante is played by British actor Matthew Marsh.
* In the 2016–2019 Anglo-Italian television series ''Medici
The House of Medici ( , ; ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici and his grandson Lorenzo "the Magnificent" during the first half of the 15th ...
'', Ferrante is played by British actor Ray Stevenson
George Raymond Stevenson (25 May 196421 May 2023) was a Northern Ireland-born actor, best known for his film and television work. He had a starring role as legionary Titus Pullo on the BBC/HBO television series ''Rome'' (2005–2007), and port ...
.
Honorous
On 29 September 1465 Ferrante founded the famous Order of the Ermine, which was awarded to the same sovereign, his son Alfonso, his nephew Ferrandino and many other important personalities, such as Ercole I d'Este, Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Ludovico il Moro, Federico from Montefeltro and Charles I of Burgundy.
National
Foreign
Works
* *A collection of letters in Latin was published under his name in 1585 with the title ''Epistole Militari'' or rather ''Regis Ferdinandi et aliorum Epistolae ac Orationes utriusque militiae''. *A theological-dogmatic pamphlet is attributed to him: ''De causis quare Deus fecit peccabile genus humanum''.Numismatics
References
Sources
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *External links
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferdinand 01 Of Naples 1423 births 1494 deaths 15th-century monarchs of Naples House of Trastámara Ferdinand 1 Illegitimate children of Neapolitan monarchs Knights of the Garter Knights of the Golden Fleece Burials at the Basilica of San Domenico, Naples Sons of counts