Ferdinand I.

Ferdinand I., king of the Two Sicilies, was the third son of Charles III. of Spain, and was born 12th January 1751. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in 1759 Ferdinand, though a minor, succeeded him on the Neapolitan throne, under a regency, as Ferdinand IV. After his marriage, in 1768, with Maria Caroline, daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa, he fell completely under her influence, and lost all his former popularity. The queen and her favourite minister Acton (q.v.) ruled the kingdom. Ferdinand joined the coalition of England and Austria against France in 1793, and in 1798 occupied Rome, but soon fled panic-stricken before the French to Sicily on board Nelson's fleet. The French thereupon entered Naples, and set up the short-lived Parthenopean Republic, but were soon obliged to abandon the city and make room for the return of Ferdinand, who contrived to establish his power under the shadow of Nelson's ships. At length, however, in 1801 Ferdinand was forced to enter into a treaty with the First Consul. A subsequent violation of this treaty compelled him in 1806 again to take refuge in Sicily, under the protection of the English. A French army marched into Naples, and took possession of the kingdom, which Napoleon bestowed first on his brother Joseph, and afterwards on Murat. Ferdinand was reinstated by the Congress of Vienna, and entered Naples, after Murat's flight, in June 1815, and in the December of next year united his two states into one, and assumed the title of king of the Two Sicilies. His queen had already died in 1814. He had sworn before his recall to grant a constitution, and a popular movement in 1820 compelled him to renew his pledge, but with the help of an Austrian army the year after he shamefully broke his word and established a rigorous reign of despotism. He died January 4, 1825, and was succeeded by his son Francis I., who died in 1830. See J. Cordy Jeaffreson, The Queen of Naples and Lord Nelson (2 vols. 1889).