Неаполь Королі Фердинанд I: Саясат, соғыс және Ренессанс дәуірі

Ferdinand I (2 June 1424 – 25 January 1494), also known as Ferrante, was king of Naples from 1458 to 1494. The only son, albeit illegitimate, of Alfonso the Magnanimous, he was one of the most influential and feared monarchs in Europe at the time and an important figure of the Italian Renaissance. In his thirty years of reign he brought peace and prosperity to Naples. Its foreign 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, to affirm the hegemony of the Kingdom of Naples over the other Italian states 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. 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, France, the Republic of Venice and the Papal States. 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 artists and humanists, completed the paternal building works in the city of Naples 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 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. was probably a woman of Neapolitan origin who in December 1423 had accompanied Alfonso on his return to Spain, 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. At the behest of the king, on 26 July 1438 the governor de Corella, the bishop Borgia and the young Ferrante, with their entourage of young Catalan gentlemen, set sail from Barcelona for Italy. 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 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 field where René of Anjou Valois, challenged to battle, did not appear. In Naples he had as teachers Valla, Panormita, Borgia and Gabriele Altilio, who taught him for many years. He also had as tutor Paris de Puteo who taught him law. Following the death of his uncle Peter, 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 and which was then transferred to Naples. 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, usually given to the first born of the king of Naples. Then Onorato Caetani, with the consent of all, kneeling before the king, he begged him to create Duke of Calabria and his future successor Don Ferrante, and the King with a cheerful face made him answer these words by the secretary: Ferrante in 1444 married the heiress Isabella of Taranto, daughter of Tristan of Clermont 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 who, having married Ladislaus I of Anjou, had therefore been queen of Naples, Sicily and the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1406 to 1414.

In June 1452 King Alfonso declared war on the Florentines, at the request of the Republic of Venice, to divert them from the help they gave to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan; for which he sent his son Ferrante with six thousand horses and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Alfonso then concluded with the Venetians that he would attack the Florentines and the Venetian the Sforza. Therefore, Ferrante left for Abruzzo, and was lovingly received for the whole kingdom. The Duke's army stopped at the Abbey of San Galgano, a very convenient place to have food from land and sea to survive. Then the Florentines (whose governor was Cosimo de' Medici) raised the flags of King Charles VII, King of France and urged that King René restart the enterprise for the reconquest of the Kingdom of Naples. At this time the plague began to spread in the camp of the army of the Duke of Calabria at Tumulo (a place conforming to the name for malaria), for which the Duke of Urbino and many other captains fell ill; therefore it was necessary for the Duke of Calabria to change camp and lead the army to Pitigliano.

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, 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 to Sicily, with the Catalan barons who had not had fiefs in the kingdom from Alfonso.

Although he had overcome this obstacle, Ferrante still did not feel safe, since he did not yet have Callixtus III 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.

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 as Duke of Spoleto. 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, not to obey Ferrante or continue to swear loyalty to him. Ferrante then called the barons and the people to the General Parliament, who swore loyalty to him, without any rancor. To oppose Pope's plan, in the presence of the nuncio, he wrote a response to the papal bull, stating that he was legitimate king by the grace of God, 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, Duke of Andria , and Antonio d'Alessandro, famous Jurisconsult, to ask for the investiture of the new Pope and to render him obedience. Accepted the audience, Pope Pius II 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, and other conditions agreed in the name of the Pope by Bernardo, Bishop of Spoleto 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 county of Celano 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.

In order to increase their power, the princes of Taranto and Marino Marzano, prince of Rossano, asked the King to return Antonio Centelles, Marquis of Crotone, Giosia Acquaviva, Duke of Atri and Giulio Antonio Acquaviva, Count of Conversano, 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, who was the wife of King Alfonso V, died in Catalonia 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, Duke of Anjou, son of King René, who was still in Genoa, 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 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 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 and the Volturno. The Duke John was received by the Prince of Rossano and immediately pushed his army to the port of Naples, invading a large part of Terra di Lavoro. He then went to Capitanata where he found the Barons and the Peoples on his side: Lucera immediately opened the doors to him and Luigi Minutolo gave him back the Castle, so did Troia, Foggia, San Severo, Manfredonia and all the Castles of Mount Gargano. Ercole d'Este, 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, the Count of Avellino, the Count of Buccino, the Lord of Torremaggiore and the Lord of Santobuono all passed into the pay of john. The Prince of Taranto who was in Bari went as far as Bitonto 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 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, 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 in previously forced Ferrante's troops to retreat from Venafro 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 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 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. The whole Principato Citra, Basilicata and Calabria up to Cosenza 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 headed by the captains Giosuè and Marino Longo: these, 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, 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 Duke of Milan entered the war in aid of Ferrante also for fear of the claims that the Duke of Orleans had on the State of Milan. Therefore he sent his brother Alessandro Sforza and Roberto Sanseverino Count of Caiazzo, who was the son of his sister, to the king; both to advise him and 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 Salernowith the title of Prince and to be able to mint coins and many others. 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 or to the Count of Capaccio or to the Count of Lauria and 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, Martorano, Nicastro, Bisignano 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, 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; 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, nicknamed Skanderbeg, came to help King Ferrante from Albania with numerous ships, 700 horses and 1000 veteran infantrymen, a very famous man at that time for his campaigns against the Turks of Mohammed II, 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. The 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, who commanded the allied army, observing the discomfort of her, demanded and obtained a truce and because foresaw an unhappy end, he decided not to maintain the truce. The 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 Albania, animated by the example of their leader and the King, fully defeated the enemy army and Piccinino and john of Anjou they 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 only Trani 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. But the appearance of Skanderbegin the area of Trani was enough for the downfall of such a rogue and he was pardoned by the King, 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 and San Giovanni Rotondo, a city in Puglia and therefore opposite the Albania. On November 16, the death of Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo, Prince of Taranto, 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.

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; but 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 the Duke of Milan, the eldest daughter Eleanor with the Duke of Ferrara Ercole d'Este and the younger Beatrice with King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. All these celebrations were interrupted by mourning for the death of Queen Isabella, 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, daughter of his uncle King John II of Aragon.

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. 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.

Ferrante further strengthened his power with a series of alliances. Around 1463 he promoted a league between the major Italian states: 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". But the equilibrium achieved with great effort soon proved to be very precarious. The duchy of Milan Galeazzo Maria sforza in March 1470 allied himself with Louis XI of France, effectively invalidating the league with Florence and Naples. Ferrante, then, exploited the weak point of the Sforza power represented by Genoa, fomenting the rebellion of the capital, where in 1476 there were riots and riots to the cry "long live the king of Naples and long live freedom". 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, but for the investiture to send him a well trimmed white horse every year; thus the use of the chinea was introduced to Saint Peter. 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.

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 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 of Charles II of Anjou for the promotion of art 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, 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.

In 1471 Ferrante made alliances with England, with Burgundy 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, slowing down the Ottoman expansionism. France and the Duchy of Milan unsuccessfully tried to thwart the alliance, potentially very dangerous for their Mediterranean 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, protectorate of the Serenissima, proposing in complete secrecy to marry his son Alfonso with a daughter of King James. All this took place with the complicity of Pope Sixtus IV, who did not look favorably on Venetian expansionism in the Aegean. 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. He made arrangements with Mohammed II, who was happy to find an ally against Venice. He entered into trade treaties with Syria, Egypt and Tunisia, which gave a beneficial impetus to the kingdom's trade and maritime traffic. 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.

Ferrante, at the insistence of the King of France Louis XI and driven by the fame of his integrity, had the monk Francis, 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 be transferred to Naples, at which ceremony with great pomp celebrated by Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, he too wanted to attend. 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. Ariadeno therefore, wishing to continue the conquests, thought of occupying Brindisi 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 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 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 the 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; and 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, Poggibonsi, Monte San Savino, Poggio Imperiale and other fortified places in the Chianti and Valdelsa). 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.

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, in fact, the barons, who had conceived a great hatred towards Alfonso, 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 he 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, Pirro Del Balzo, Prince of Altamura, the Prince of Bisignano, the Marquis del Vasto, the Duke of Atri, the Duke of Melfi, the Duke of Nardò, the Count of Lauria, the Count of Mileto, 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 his father had died, the Pontiff pushed Charles VIII of France 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, incarcerating the two children and the Count's wife, then leading them to the prisons of Castel Nuovo in Naples. 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 courts and every place full of confusion. 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 had 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, 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 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 and the Bishops of Miletus and Teano, who were in Rome, were deprived of their income. 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 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 and by the complaints of many soldiers and barons of the kingdom (who devastated the Papal States 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 Count of Tendiglia, Ambassadors of the King of Spain and Sicily, he was accepted in the name of King Ferrante by Giovanni Pontano, 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, and stopped harassing the barons. The Duke of Milan, Ferdinand the Catholic King of Aragon and Sicily and Lorenzo de' Medici were the ones who signed the agreement between Ferrante and the Barons. Pope Innocent VIII, 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 Duke of Calabria, in compliance with the bulls of Pope Eugene IV and Pius II, his predecessors; and in the absence of the Duke of Calabria, Ferrandino should have succeeded.

The barons, although reassured by the Pope and the King of Spain and Sicily, knew Alfonso'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. Moving, however, was the speech and farewell that the Count of Sarno pronounced to his children from the top of the gallows. 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".

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 greatest condottieri of that century at his service, such as Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the two Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna, Niccolò di Pitigliano 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. In December 1491 Ferrante received a visit from a group of pilgrims returning from the Holy Land. This group was led by William I, Landgrave of Lower Hesse. On April 8, 1492, Lorenzo de' Medici died, and shortly after also Innocent VIII. The Pope's successor was Alexander VI and that of Lorenzo Piero de' Medici, who continued to be an ally of King Ferrante. Encouraged by Ludovico Sforza, 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.

King Ferrante, who up to 1493 with his prudence had maintained the peace both in the Kingdom and in Italy, knowing that France 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 and then fever, on the fourteenth day of his infirmity, he died on January 25, 1494 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, propitius esto mihi peccatori (God, forgive my sins)", and immediately died. The cause of his death was determined in 2006 to have been colorectal cancer (mucinous adenocarcinoma type with mutation in the KRas 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. The death of this sovereign was preceded by huge earthquakes, which caused many buildings to collapse in Naples, Capua, Gaeta and Aversa and it is 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, 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 in the presence of the militias and the other in the Church of San Domenico Maggiore. 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. 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 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. 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.). 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. 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". 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. 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, the art of goldsmiths and the art of weaving gold drapes and brocades and to perfect it he called Marino di Cataponte and Florence from Venice Francesco di Nero, giving them generously.

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.

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.