ality overshadowed his own. In 1521 Ferdinand married
Anna of Hungary, and Charles granted him extensive ter-
ritories in central Europe, in which Ferdinand acted as his
brother’s representative. At Vienna, which he made his
capital from 1530, he gathered around him a circle of
scholars and artists and founded a notable collection of
books and coins. In 1531 Charles rewarded Ferdinand for
his loyalty with the title of king of the Romans, thus des-
ignating him heir to the empire.
After the death of Ferdinand’s childless brother-in-
law, Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, at the battle of MO-
HÁCS, Ferdinand was elected king of both realms (1526),
but a strong Hungarian nationalist party under John Za-
polya resisted. War dragged on until Hungary was split be-
tween the claimants (1538), and even after Zapolya’s
death (1540) Ferdinand’s claim was contested by Zapolya’s
son, supported by the Turks and other enemies of the
Hapsburgs. The rise of Protestantism in the Hapsburg
lands was the second main issue of Ferdinand’s reign,
which he attempted to handle by negotiation and com-
promise.
Charles’s attempts to secure the imperial succession
for his son (later PHILIP IIof Spain) occasioned a tempo-
rary rift between the brothers around 1550, but thereafter
Ferdinand increasingly took charge of imperial business.
In 1555 he achieved the important religious settlement of
the peace of AUGSBURG. His own short reign as emperor,
following Charles’s abdication (1556) was taken up with
the perennial problems of Turkish encroachments and re-
ligious strife. He was succeeded by his son MAXIMILIAN II.
Ferdinand I (Ferrante) (1423–1494) King of Naples
(1458–94)
He was the illegitimate son of ALFONSO Iof Naples (Al-
fonso V of Aragon), who on his death left his Aragonese
possessions to his brother John and Sicily and Naples to
Ferdinand. Educated by Lorenzo VALLA, Ferdinand inher-
ited his father’s enlightened attitude to patronage of the
arts and scholarship, but his reign was much troubled by
papal opposition (on account of Ferdinand’s illegitimacy
Calixtus III refused to recognize him on his accession),
wars with the Turks and with the Angevin claimant to the
Neapolitan throne, and baronial insurrections. He is noto-
rious for his massacre of his nobles in 1485 after they had
surrendered on Ferdinand’s unequivocal promise of an
amnesty. He was succeeded by ALFONSO II, his son by Is-
abella of Clermont.
Ferdinand II (1452–1516) and Isabella I (1451–1504)
King of Aragon (1479–1516) and of Castile (as Ferdinand V;
1474–1516); queen of Castile (1474–1504)
In 1469 the marriage of these two heirs to Spain’s princi-
pal kingdoms prepared the way for a united Spain. While
respecting the different laws and customs of their domains
Ferdinand and Isabella diminished feudal and local rights
and extended the authority of the crown. They quelled
overmighty lords and retrieved lands lost by earlier rulers.
Relying on officials personally loyal to them, they
strengthened their authority through HERMANDADES,
viceroys, and a reformed conciliar system. By the time Fer-
dinand died their territories had been extended to cover
the whole Iberian peninsula except Portugal. In 1492 they
completed the Christian reconquest (Reconquista) with
the capture of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in
Spain, and went on to take Algiers in 1510. Cerdagne and
Roussillon were acquired by treaty in 1493 and Navarre
was conquered by Ferdinand in 1512. He had further in-
creased his Mediterranean empire by conquering Naples
in 1504, and his and Isabella’s support for Christopher
COLUMBUSbrought Spain great wealth and vast territories
in the New World.
In 1494 Pope ALEXANDER VIrecognized their loyalty
to the Church by proclaiming them “the Catholic Kings”
(“Los Reyes Católicos”); this loyalty was principally
shown by their support for the SPANISH INQUISITIONwhich
was established in 1478 under TORQUEMADA. The Inquisi-
tion was concerned with the conversion of Jews and
Moors, and was ultimately responsible for the expulsion
from Spain of the Jews (1492) and the Muslim Moors
(1500). The Catholic Kings presided over reforms that
strengthened and purified the Church in Spain.
Renaissance learning and arts were strongly encour-
aged in the Catholic Kings’ Spain, particularly by Isabella.
She herself studied Latin, and she set up within her court
a grammar school for the education of the sons of the
Castilian aristocracy. Her humanist endeavors were
strongly supported by two of her closest advisers, the sons
of the Marqués de SANTILLANA, one of whom, Pedro
González de MENDOZA, founded the college of Sta. Cruz in
Vallodolid, and the other, the Count of Tendilla, was re-
sponsible for bringing PETER MARTYRd’Anghiera to Spain.
Her confessor, Cardinal XIMÉNES DE CISNEROSfounded the
university of ALCALÁas a major bastion of Renaissance
scholarship. The royal policy of encouraging the immigra-
tion of German printers led to the rapid spread of presses
in a number of towns, with Valencia becoming the site of
Spain’s first press in 1474. The Catholic Kings’ control
over the output of these presses was ensured by the li-
censing of printed books from 1502. In the visual arts
their reign saw a number of innovations, as such artists as
Pedro BERRUGUETE imported new trends from Italy to
challenge the earlier ascendancy of Flemish and Burgun-
dian influence in Spanish art. Isabella’s encouragement of
architecture is acknowledged in the name “Isabelline”
sometimes given to the early phase of the PLATERESQUE
style.
When Isabella died without a son, Castile passed to
her mad daughter, Joanna, who had been married (1496)
to the Hapsburg heir, Philip the Handsome of Burgundy.
As Ferdinand’s second marriage proved childless, at hisFFeerrddiinnaanndd IIII aanndd IIssaabbeellllaa II 1 17777