#ferdinand iv

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

José Casado del Alisal (Spanish, 1832-1886) Últimos momentos de Fernando IV el Emplazado, 1860

Representation of King Ferdinand IV of Castile (6 December 1285 – 7 September 1312) called the Summoned (el Emplazado) on his deathbed, before whom the brothers Juan and Pedro de Carvajal appear, unjustly executed by order of the monarch a month earlier and who would have summoned him to appear before God for his crime.

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, January 12th:

Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, 1562

Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, 1721

Maria Carolina, Archduchess of Austria, 1740

Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, 1751

Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies, 1810

Zekiye Sultan, Ottoman Princess, 1872

Hemvadi, Princess of Thailand, 1892

Gustav, Hereditary Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, 1969

[roehenstart]

Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans by Frans Luycx.

[vivelareine]

Official celebrations in Naples for the wedding of Ferdinand IV with Maria Carolina of Austria, 1768; by an unknown artist, circa 1768.

[josefavomjaaga]

Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 5, Part 2

Be warned: This is a boring one, mostly about Ferdinand IV.

Ferdinand IV, leaving the Crown Prince as his alter-ego in Palermo, had arrived in Messina after the middle of May and there ratified the Vienna Alliance Treaty of April 29 on the 20th.

On 31 May, the telegraph reported the departure of the royal squadron from Messina for the Gulf of Naples: at the same time, the "Tremendous", carrying the family of former King Joachim, weighed anchor; out at sea, the two expeditions met and exchanged gun salutes. Ferdinand entered the Bay of Baja on June 3; five days later, the Tremendous landed the Countess of Lipona in Trieste with her four children Achilles, Lucian, Letitia and Luigia [sic! He uses the Italian variant of the name here] and set sail again on the evening of June 8 to return to Naples.

King Ferdinand had not immediately gone to his capital, but had taken up residence for the time being in nearby Portici. From there, on June 4, he issued a manifesto in which, in accordance with his Palermo Proclamation of May 1st and the reservation of the Treaty of Casa Lanza of May 20th, he promised his regained subjects personal and civil freedom, respect for the purchase of state goods as well as the national debt, the maintenance of salaries and pension entitlements, dignities and military honours, recognition of the new nobility alongside the old, and promised that no one would be brought to court because of their former political opinions and attitudes. In Naples there was complete calm, Murat's followers had all but disappeared, the restoration of the old dynasty was the dominant slogan. Day after day, deputations as well as individuals of rank appeared in Portici to pay homage to the king, to declare their submission and devotion.

The signing of the Concluding Act of the European Congress took place in Vienna on June 9th; in the CIV. Article, King Ferdinand IV was "restored to the throne of Naples, both for himself and for his heirs and descendants, and recognised by the Powers as the rightful Prince of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies". It seems that Ferdinand had waited for this event to become a documented certainty in order to fulfil his and his followers' desire to return to the soil of his old capital. On June 17, solemnly welcomed by General Neipperg at the head of the allied cavalry, and received by FML Bianchi and the entire army at the bridge of the Maddalena, he made his first appearance in Naples after more than nine years of absence, where the event was celebrated with three days of rejoicing.

Hoo-bloody-ray.

On the day after the king's solemn entry, Bianchi received the imperial order to leave only 18,000 men under FML Mohr in Naples and to march the remaining troops to northern Italy. Also, the prolonged stay of such a strong foreign garrison was hardly necessary. Order and legality had found their way into all areas of the kingdom; isolated riots, attempts at rebellion by Murat's followers or, in turn, acts of violence by the population against the organs of the overthrown regiment, were countered by the military commissions, which a royal decree of June 28th found necessary in some provinces. Military resistance was broken everywhere. Proud Gaëta was still holding on, but its fall was a question of time and Bianchi could calmly leave the completion of his work to his successor in command. King Ferdinand had appointed him Duca di Casa Lanza with an annual endowment of 9,000 ducats or 15,000 florins, which Bianchi gratefully accepted; but his other application to become Generalissimo at the head of the Neapolitan army had been refused by him, who wished to remain loyal to the service of his ancestral emperor and master, to Ferdinand's great regret. On 1 July, the glorious commander left the city and the country. The departure of part of the Austrian garrison went hand in hand with the deportation of the French prisoners of war. They were brought out of the kingdom in troops, among them quite a few who, having been in Neapolitan service for years, did not even desire to return to their old homeland. Among them was Murat's chief of staff in the last campaigns, Millet de Villeneuve, who had many connections in Naples and kept himself hidden to avoid extradition. He was, however, tracked down, dragged out of hiding and taken into custody at Fort dell' Uovo; on July 25, he too left the territory of the kingdom with the last French transport. In their place, Neapolitan fugitives returned in droves from Sicily, where they had spent ten years, among them personalities of high rank and name: the generals Naselli Nunziante Fardella, the Duke of Ascoli-Marulli, who, like so many others, had sacrificed exile and the confiscation of his entire continental property for his loyalty and political conviction. The Prince of Hesse-Philippsthal, Maria Carolina's chivalrous companion on her last arduous and perilous journey, also found himself in Naples. 

In Gaëta commanded the Neapolitan Maresciallo di Campo - as much as Major General here - Baron Begani, who gave a rare example of courage, endurance and fealty. Enclosed on land by an Austrian siege corps, guarded from the sea by a British-Sicilian flotilla of gunboats under Capitain Flahie and Colonel Robinson, he had already rejected repeated calls for surrender. Not the communication of the agreement of Casa Lanza, not the news of the removal of the dethroned King's family, not disastrous sorties in which he lost almost as many men to death and wounding as to desertion, not mutiny in his own camp, the revolt of a part of the garrison, which he had to bring down to pairs with bloody severity, nothing could shake the steadfastness of this man who declared that he would surrender the fortress only to or at the command of the one who had entrusted it to him: His Majesty King Joachim of Naples. The hope that Napoleon would assert himself on the throne of France, bind the old fortunes of war to his banners and then also bring help to his brother-in-law's beleaguered fortress, probably kept him going. Under such circumstances, there was nothing left for the imperial forces but to proceed to a formal siege, the leadership of which was entrusted to FML Baron Lauer. The preparations for this presented great difficulties; neither was there a sufficient number of guns, nor a sufficient supply of war material available. At the same time, the fire from the fortress, which was abundantly supplied with everything it needed, was so devastating that more than once the siege work had to be interrupted and the people engaged in it, who suffered great losses, began to become timid. On July 7 and 8, the flotilla and the land army celebrated the news of the battle of Waterloo with salutes of joy; and this occasion was used to urge Begani once more to give up his useless resistance. But he demanded to be allowed to send one of his officers to the headquarters of the allies in order to obtain authentic news by this means. When this was refused, the hostilities began anew.

The last part reminds me a lot of Davout in Hamburg.

[leonorplantagenet]

Royal women in history | Parallels: María de Molina and Kösem Sultan

María de Molina, queen consort of Castile and two times regent of the Iberian kingdom (to her son and grandson) is one of my absolutely favourite historical ladies. Her life parallels the one of another greatest ruler, Kösem Sultan. So I came up with this lame edit. 

[oilandrealism]

Antonio Gisbert - Queen María de Molina presents her son Ferdinand IV of Castile to the Cortes of Valladolid of 1295 - (1863)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gisbert

[books0977]

Ferdinand IV and his Family, Vesuvius on the Background (late 18th century). Neapolitan School. Oil on panel.

At the right of the composition sits the young King Ferdinand, ruler of the kingdom of Sicily and Naples. His wife, here engaged in writing, is Marie-Caroline of Austria, older sister of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France. Grouped around the couple are some of their eighteen children, including Marie-Amélie (far left), the future Queen of France through her marriage to Louis-Phillipe.