Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere"
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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere"
Author: Various
Release date: March 12, 2011 [eBook #35561]
Most recently updated: January 7, 2021
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35561
Credits: Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, 11TH EDITION, "FENTON, EDWARD" TO "FINISTERE" ***
Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE FERDINAND V.: "He feared that Jimenez and the 267 Great
Captain would become too independent, and watched them in the
interest of the royal authority." 'Jimenez' amended from 'Ximinez'.
ARTICLE FERGUSSON, ROBERT: "Fergusson's poems were collected in the
year before his death." "Fergusson's" amended from "Fergussons'".
ARTICLE FERMENTATION: "For example, some species hydrolyse cane
sugar and maltose, and then carry on fermentation at the expense of
the simple sugars (hexoses) so formed." 'cane' amended from 'came'.
ARTICLE FERREIRA, ANTONIO: "... and though it has since been
handled by poets of renown in many different languages, none has
been able to surpass the old master." 'different' amended from
'differenc'.
ARTICLE FEVER: "The high temperature seems to cause disintegration
of cell protoplasm and increased excretion of nitrogen and of
carbonic acid." 'disintegration' amended from 'distintegration'.
ARTICLE FIBRES: "Transverse section of stem, X 235, showing bast
fibres occupying central zone." 'Transverse' amended from
'tranverse'.
ARTICLE FIBRES: "The textile yarn is produced by assembling
together the unit threads, which are wound together and suitably
twisted (silk; artificial silk)." 'and' amended from 'aud'.
ARTICLE FIBRES: "Aloe and Agave fibres in their softer forms are
also used for plasterers' brushes." "plasterers'" amended from
"plasterers's".
ARTICLE FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB: "The disasters of Prussia in 1806
drove Fichte from Berlin." 'disasters' amended from 'diasters'.
ARTICLE FICINO, MARSILIO: "Ficino, like nearly all the scholars of
that age in Italy, delighted in country life. 'life' amended from
'lfe'.
ARTICLE FICINO, MARSILIO: "From these it may be gathered that
nearly every living scholar of note was included in the list of his
friends, and that the subjects which interested him were by no
means confined to his Platonic studies. 'studies' amended from
'sudies'.
ARTICLE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD: "The following days were taken
up with tournaments, in which both kings took part, banquets and
other entertainments ..." 'taken' amended from 'take'.
ARTICLE FIFE: "... at Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy there are high
schools and at Anstruther there is the Waid Academy. 'Kirkcaldy'
amended from 'Kirkclady'.
ARTICLE FIJI: "The Fijians combined with this greediness a savage
and merciless nature." 'nature' amended from 'natures'.
ARTICLE FILELFO, FRANCESCO: "Not satisfied with these outlets for
his mental energy, Filelfo went on translating from the Greek, and
prosecuted a paper warfare with his enemies in Florence." 'Not'
amended from 'No'.
ARTICLE FILTER: "... impurities like ferric oxide, alumina, lime,
magnesia and silica having been removed by treatment with
hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids." 'ferric' amended from
'feric'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME X, SLICE III
Fenton, Edward to Finistere
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
FENTON, EDWARD FEUDALISM
FENTON, ELIJAH FEUERBACH, ANSELM
FENTON, SIR GEOFFREY FEUERBACH, LUDWIG ANDREAS
FENTON, LAVINIA FEUERBACH, PAUL JOHANN ANSELM
FENTON FEUILLANTS, CLUB OF THE
FENUGREEK FEUILLET, OCTAVE
FENWICK, SIR JOHN FEUILLETON
FEOFFMENT FEUQUIERES, ISAAC MANASSES DE PAS
FERDINAND FEVAL, PAUL HENRI CORENTIN
FERDINAND I. (Roman emperor) FEVER
FERDINAND II. (Roman emperor) FEYDEAU, ERNEST-AIME
FERDINAND III. (Roman emperor) FEZ
FERDINAND I. (emperor of Austria) FEZZAN
FERDINAND I. (king of Naples) FIACRE, SAINT
FERDINAND II. (king of Naples) FIARS PRICES
FERDINAND IV. (king of Naples) FIBRES
FERDINAND I. (king of Portugal) FIBRIN
FERDINAND I. (king of Castile) FICHTE, IMMANUEL HERMANN VON
FERDINAND II. (king of Leon) FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB
FERDINAND III. (king of Castile) FICHTELGEBIRGE
FERDINAND IV. (king of Castile) FICINO, MARSILIO
FERDINAND I. (king of Aragon) FICKSBURG
FERDINAND V. (of Castile & Leon) FICTIONS
FERDINAND VI. (king of Spain) FIDDES, RICHARD
FERDINAND VII. (king of Spain) FIDDLE
FERDINAND II. (king of Sicily) FIDENAE
FERDINAND III. (duke of Tuscany) FIDUCIARY
FERDINAND, MAXIMILIAN MARIA FIEF
FERDINAND (duke of Brunswick) FIELD, CYRUS WEST
FERDINAND (archbishop of Cologne) FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY
FERENTINO FIELD, EUGENE
FERENTUM FIELD, FREDERICK
FERETORY FIELD, HENRY MARTYN
FERGHANA FIELD, JOHN
FERGUS FALLS FIELD, MARSHALL
FERGUSON, ADAM FIELD, NATHAN
FERGUSON, JAMES FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON
FERGUSON, ROBERT FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD
FERGUSON, SIR SAMUEL FIELD
FERGUSSON, JAMES FIELDFARE
FERGUSSON, ROBERT FIELDING, ANTHONY VANDYKE COPLEY
FERGUSSON, SIR WILLIAM FIELDING, HENRY
FERINGHI FIELDING, WILLIAM STEVENS
FERISHTA, MAHOMMED KASIM FIELD-MOUSE
FERMANAGH FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD
FERMAT, PIERRE DE FIELDS, JAMES THOMAS
FERMENTATION FIENNES, NATHANIEL
FERMO FIERI FACIAS
FERMOY FIESCHI, GIUSEPPE MARCO
FERN FIESCO, GIOVANNI LUIGI
FERNANDEZ, ALVARO FIESOLE
FERNANDEZ, DIEGO FIFE (county of Scotland)
FERNANDEZ, JOHN FIFE (flute)
FERNANDEZ, JUAN FIFTH MONARCHY MEN
FERNANDEZ, LUCAS FIG
FERNANDINA FIGARO
FERNANDO DE NORONHA FIGEAC
FERNANDO PO FIGUEIRA DA FOZ
FERNEL, JEAN FRANCOIS FIGUERAS
FERNIE FIGULUS, PUBLIUS NIGIDIUS
FERNOW, KARL LUDWIG FIGURATE NUMBERS
FEROZEPUR FIJI
FEROZESHAH FILANDER
FERRAND, ANTOINE FRANCOIS CLAUDE FILANGIERI, CARLO
FERRAR, NICHOLAS FILANGIERI, GAETANO
FERRAR, ROBERT FILARIASIS
FERRARA FILDES, SIR LUKE
FERRARA-FLORENCE FILE
FERRARI, GAUDENZIO FILE-FISH
FERRARI, GIUSEPPE FILELFO, FRANCESCO
FERRARI, PAOLO FILEY
FERREIRA, ANTONIO FILIBUSTER
FERREL'S LAW FILICAJA, VINCENZO DA
FERRERS FILIGREE
FERRERS, LAURENCE SHIRLEY FILLAN, SAINT
FERRET FILLET
FERRI, CIRO FILLMORE, MILLARD
FERRI, LUIGI FILMER, SIR RORERT
FERRIER, ARNAUD DU FILMY FERNS
FERRIER, JAMES FREDERICK FILON, PIERRE MARIE AUGUSTIN
FERRIER, PAUL FILOSA
FERRIER, SUSAN EDMONSTONE FILTER
FERROL FIMBRIA, GAIUS FLAVIUS
FERRUCCIO, FRANCESCO FIMBRIATE
FERRULE FINALE
FERRY, JULES FRANCOIS CAMILLE FINANCE
FERRY FINCH, FINCH-HATTON
FERSEN, FREDRIK AXEL FINCH OF FORDWICH, JOHN FINCH
FERSEN, HANS AXEL FINCH
FESCA, FREDERIC ERNEST FINCHLEY
FESCENNIA FINCK, FRIEDRICH AUGUST VON
FESCENNINE VERSES FINCK, HEINRICH
FESCH, JOSEPH FINCK, HERMANN
FESSA FINDEN, WILLIAM
FESSENDEN, WILLIAM PITT FINDLATER, ANDREW
FESSLER, IGNAZ AURELIUS FINDLAY, SIR GEORGE
FESTA, CONSTANZO FINDLAY, JOHN RITCHIE
FESTINIOG FINDLAY
FESTOON FINE
FESTUS FINE ARTS
FESTUS, SEXTUS POMPEIUS FINGER
FETIS, FRANCOIS JOSEPH FINGER-AND-TOE
FETISHISM FINGER-PRINTS
FETTERCAIRN FINGO
FETTERS AND HANDCUFFS FINIAL
FEU FINIGUERRA, MASO
FEUCHERES, SOPHIE FINISHING
FEUCHTERSLEBEN, ERNST FINISTERE
FEUD
FENTON, EDWARD (d. 1603), English navigator, son of Henry Fenton and
brother of Sir Geoffrey Fenton (q.v.), was a native of Nottinghamshire.
In 1577 he sailed, in command of the "Gabriel," with Sir Martin
Frobisher's second expedition for the discovery of the north-west
passage, and in the following year he took part as second in command in
Frobisher's third expedition, his ship being the "Judith." He was then
employed in Ireland for a time, but in 1582 he was put in charge of an
expedition which was to sail round the Cape of Good Hope to the Moluccas
and China, his instructions being to obtain any knowledge of the
north-west passage that was possible without hindrance to his trade. On
this unsuccessful voyage he got no farther than Brazil, and throughout
he was engaged in quarrelling with his officers, and especially with his
lieutenant, William Hawkins, the nephew of Sir John Hawkins, whom he had
in irons when he arrived back in the Thames. In 1588 he had command of
the "Mary Rose," one of the ships of the fleet that was formed to oppose
the Armada. He died fifteen years afterwards.
FENTON, ELIJAH (1683-1730), English poet, was born at Shelton near
Newcastle-under-Lyme, of an old Staffordshire family, on the 25th of May
1683. He graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1704, but was
prevented by religious scruples from taking orders. He accompanied the
earl of Orrery to Flanders as private secretary, and on returning to
England became assistant in a school at Headley, Surrey, being soon
afterwards appointed master of the free grammar school at Sevenoaks in
Kent. In 1710 he resigned his appointment in the expectation of a place
from Lord Bolingbroke, but was disappointed. He then became tutor to
Lord Broghill, son of his patron Orrery. Fenton is remembered as the
coadjutor of Alexander Pope in his translation of the _Odyssey_. He was
responsible for the first, fourth, nineteenth and twentieth books, for
which he received L300. He died at East Hampstead, Berkshire, on the
16th of July 1730. He was buried in the parish church, and his epitaph
was written by Pope.
Fenton also published _Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany Poems_ (1707);
_Miscellaneous Poems_ (1717); _Mariamne_, a tragedy (1723); an edition
(1725) of Milton's poems, and one of Waller (1729) with elaborate
notes. See W.W. Lloyd, _Elijah Fenton, his Poetry and Friends_ (1894).
FENTON, SIR GEOFFREY (c. 1539-1608), English writer and politician, was
the son of Henry Fenton, of Nottinghamshire. He was brother of Edward
Fenton the navigator. He is said to have visited Spain and Italy in his
youth; possibly he went to Paris in Sir Thomas Hoby's train in 1566, for
he was living there in 1567, when he wrote _Certaine tragicall
discourses written oute of Frenche and Latin_. This book is a free
translation of Francois de Belleforest's French rendering of Matteo
Bandello's _Novelle_. Till 1579 Fenton continued his literary labours,
publishing _Monophylo_ in 1572, _Golden epistles gathered out of
Guevarae's workes as other authors_ ... 1575, and various religious
tracts of strong protestant tendencies. In 1579 appeared the _Historie
of Guicciardini, translated out of French by G.F._ and dedicated to
Elizabeth. Through Lord Burghley he obtained, in 1580, the post of
secretary to the new lord deputy of Ireland, Lord Grey de Wilton, and
thus became a fellow worker with the poet, Edmund Spenser. From this
time Fenton abandoned literature and became a faithful if somewhat
unscrupulous servant of the crown. He was a bigoted protestant, longing
to use the rack against "the diabolicall secte of Rome," and even
advocating the assassination of the queen's most dangerous subjects. He
won Elizabeth's confidence, and the hatred of all his fellow-workers, by
keeping her informed of every one's doings in Ireland. In 1587 Sir John
Perrot arrested Fenton, but the queen instantly ordered his release.
Fenton was knighted in 1589, and in 1590-1591 he was in London as
commissioner on the impeachment of Perrot. Full of dislike of the Scots
and of James VI. (which he did not scruple to utter), on the latter's
accession Fenton's post of secretary was in danger, but Burghley exerted
himself in his favour, and in 1604 it was confirmed to him for life,
though he had to share it with Sir Richard Coke. Fenton died in Dublin
on the 19th of October 1608, and was buried in St Patrick's cathedral.
He married in June 1585, Alice, daughter of Dr Robert Weston, formerly
lord chancellor of Ireland, and widow of Dr Hugh Brady, bishop of Meath,
by whom he had two children, a son, Sir William Fenton, and a daughter,
Catherine, who in 1603 married Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Harl. Soc. publications, vol. iv., Visitation of
Nottinghamshire, 1871; Roy. Hist. MSS. Comm. (particularly Hatfield
collection); Calendar of State papers, Ireland (very full), domestic,
Carew papers; Lismore papers, ed. A.B. Grosart (1886-1888); _Certaine
tragicall Discourses_, ed. R.L. Douglas (2 vols., 1898), Tudor
Translation series, vols. xix., xx. (introd.).
FENTON, LAVINIA (1708-1760), English actress, was probably the daughter
of a naval lieutenant named Beswick, but she bore the name of her
mother's husband. Her first appearance was as Monimia in Otway's
_Orphans_, in 1726 at the Haymarket. She then joined the company of
players at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, where her success and
beauty made her the toast of the beaux. It was in Gay's _Beggar's
Opera_, as Polly Peachum, that Miss Fenton made her greatest success.
Her pictures were in great demand, verses were written to her and books
published about her, and she was the most talked-of person in London.
Hogarth's picture shows her in one of the scenes, with the duke of
Bolton in a box. After appearing in several comedies, and then in
numerous repetitions of the _Beggar's Opera_, she ran away with her
lover Charles Paulet, 3rd duke of Bolton, a man much older than herself,
who, after the death of his wife in 1751, married her. Their three
children all died young. The duchess survived her husband and died on
the 24th of January 1760.
FENTON, a town of Staffordshire, England, on the North Staffordshire
railway, adjoining the east side of Stoke-on-Trent, in which
parliamentary and municipal borough it is included. Pop. (1891) 16,998;
(1901) 22,742. The manufacture of earthenware common to the district
(the Potteries) employs the bulk of the large industrial population.
FENUGREEK, in botany, _Trigonella Foenum-graecum_ (so called from the
name given to it by the ancients, who used it as fodder for cattle), a
member of a genus of leguminous herbs very similar in habit and in most
of their characters to the species of the genus _Medicago_. The leaves
are formed of three obovate leaflets, the middle one of which is
stalked; the flowers are solitary, or in clusters of two or three, and
have a campanulate, 5-cleft calyx; and the pods are many-seeded,
cylindrical or flattened, and straight or only slightly curved. The
genus is widely diffused over the south of Europe, West and Central
Asia, and the north of Africa, and is represented by several species in
Australia. Fenugreek is indigenous to south-eastern Europe and western
Asia, and is cultivated in the Mediterranean region, parts of central
Europe, and in Morocco, and largely in Egypt and in India. It bears a
sickle-shaped pod, containing from 10 to 20 seeds, from which 6% of a
fetid, fatty and bitter oil can be extracted by ether. In India the
fresh plant is employed as an esculent. The seed is an ingredient in
curry powders, and is used for flavouring cattle foods. It was formerly
much esteemed as a medicine, and is still in repute in veterinary
practice.
FENWICK, SIR JOHN (c. 1645-1697), English conspirator, was the eldest
son of Sir William Fenwick, or Fenwicke, a member of an old
Northumberland family. He entered the army, becoming major-general in
1688, but before this date he had been returned in succession to his
father as one of the members of parliament for Northumberland, which
county he represented from 1677 to 1687. He was a strong partisan of
King James II., and in 1685 was one of the principal supporters of the
act of attainder against the duke of Monmouth; but he remained in
England when William III. ascended the throne three years later. He
began at once to plot against the new king, for which he underwent a
short imprisonment in 1689. Renewing his plots on his release, he
publicly insulted Queen Mary in 1691, and it is practically certain that
he was implicated in the schemes for assassinating William which came to
light in 1695 and 1696. After the seizure of his fellow-conspirators,
Robert Charnock and others, he remained in hiding until the imprudent
conduct of his friends in attempting to induce one of the witnesses
against him to leave the country led to his arrest in June in 1696. To
save himself he offered to reveal all he knew about the Jacobite
conspiracies; but his confession was a farce, being confined to charges
against some of the leading Whig noblemen, which were damaging, but not
conclusive. By this time his friends had succeeded in removing one of
the two witnesses, and in these circumstances it was thought that the
charge of treason must fail. The government, however, overcame this
difficulty by introducing a bill of attainder, which after a long and
acrimonious discussion passed through both Houses of Parliament. His
wife persevered in her attempts to save his life, but her efforts were
fruitless, and Fenwick was beheaded in London on the 28th of January
1697, with the same formalities as were usually observed at the
execution of a peer. By his wife, Mary (d. 1708), daughter of Charles
Howard, 1st earl of Carlisle, he had three sons and one daughter.
Macaulay says that "of all the Jacobites, the most desperate characters
not excepted, he (Fenwick) was the only one for whom William felt an
intense personal aversion"; and it is interesting to note that Fenwick's
hatred of the king is said to date from the time when he was serving in
Holland, and was reprimanded by William, then prince of Orange.
FEOFFMENT, in English law, during the feudal period, the usual method of
granting or conveying a freehold or fee. For the derivation of the word
see FIEF and FEE. The essential elements were _livery of seisin_
(delivery of possession), which consisted in formally giving to the
feoffee on the land a clod or turf, or a growing twig, as a symbol of
the transfer of the land, and words by the feoffor declaratory of his
intent to deliver possession to the feoffee with a "limitation" of the
estate intended to be transferred. This was called livery _in deed_.
Livery _in law_ was made not on but in sight of this land, the feoffor
saying to the feoffee, "I give you that land; enter and take
possession." Livery in law, in order to pass the estate, had to be
perfected by entry by the feoffee during the joint lives of himself and
the feoffor. It was usual to evidence the feoffment by writing in a
charter or deed of feoffment; but writing was not essential until the
Statute of Frauds; now, by the Real Property Act 1845, a conveyance of
real property is void unless evidenced by deed, and thus feoffments
have been rendered unnecessary and superfluous. All corporeal
hereditaments were by that act declared to be _in grant_ as well as
_livery_, i.e. they could be granted by deed without livery. A feoffment
might be a tortious conveyance, _i.e._ if a person attempted to give to
the feoffee a greater estate than he himself had in the land, he
forfeited the estate of which he was seised. (See CONVEYANCING; REAL
PROPERTY.)
FERDINAND (Span. _Fernando_ or _Hernando_; Ital. _Ferdinando_ or
_Ferrante_; in O.H. Ger. _Herinand_, i.e. "brave in the host," from
O.H.G. Heri, "army," A.S. _here_, Mod. Ger. _Heer_, and the Goth,
_nanthjan_, "to dare"), a name borne at various times by many European
sovereigns and princes, the more important of whom are noticed below in
the following order: emperors, kings of Naples, Portugal, Spain
(Castile, Leon and Aragon) and the two Sicilies; then the grand duke of
Tuscany, the prince of Bulgaria, the duke of Brunswick and the elector
of Cologne.
FERDINAND I. (1503-1564), Roman emperor, was born at Alcala de Henares
on the 10th of March 1503, his father being Philip the Handsome, son of
the emperor Maximilian I., and his mother Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand
and Isabella, king and queen of Castile and Aragon. Philip died in 1506
and Ferdinand, educated in Spain, was regarded with especial favour by
his maternal grandfather who wished to form a Spanish-Italian kingdom
for his namesake. This plan came to nothing, and the same fate attended
a suggestion made after the death of Maximilian in 1519 that Ferdinand,
and not his elder brother Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles V.,
should succeed to the imperial throne. Charles, however, secured the
Empire and the whole of the lands of Maximilian and Ferdinand, while the
younger brother was perforce content with a subordinate position. Yet
some provision must be made for Ferdinand. In April 1521 the emperor
granted to him the archduchies and duchies of upper and lower Austria,
Carinthia, Styria and Carniola, adding soon afterwards the county of
Tirol and the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs in south-western
Germany. About the same time the archduke was appointed to govern the
duchy of Wurttemberg, which had come into the possession of Charles V.;
and in May 1521 he was married at Linz to Anna (d. 1547), a daughter of
Ladislaus, king of Hungary and Bohemia, a union which had been arranged
some years before by the emperor Maximilian. In 1521 also he was made
president of the council of regency (_Reichsregiment_), appointed to
govern Germany during the emperor's absence, and the next five years
were occupied with imperial business, in which he acted as his brother's
representative, and in the government of the Austrian lands.
In Austria and the neighbouring duchies Ferdinand sought at first to
suppress the reformers and their teaching, and this was possibly one
reason why he had some difficulty in quelling risings in the districts
under his rule after the Peasants' War broke out in 1524. But a new
field was soon opened for his ambition. In August 1526 his childless
brother-in-law, Louis II., king of Hungary and Bohemia, was killed at
the battle of Mohacs, and the archduke at once claimed both kingdoms,
both by treaty and by right of his wife. Taking advantage of the
divisions among his opponents, he was chosen king of Bohemia in October
1526, and crowned at Prague in the following February, but in Hungary he
was less successful. John Zapolya, supported by the national party and
soon afterwards by the Turks, offered a sturdy resistance, and although
Ferdinand was chosen king at Pressburg in December 1526, and after
defeating Zapolya at Tokay was crowned at Stuhlweissenburg in November
1527, he was unable to take possession of the kingdom. The Bavarian
Wittelsbachs, incensed at not securing the Bohemian throne, were
secretly intriguing with his foes; the French, after assisting
spasmodically, made a formal alliance with Turkey in 1535; and Zapolya
was a very useful centre round which the enemies of the Habsburgs were
not slow to gather. A truce made in 1533 was soon broken, and the war
dragged on until 1538, when by the treaty of Grosswardein, Hungary was
divided between the claimants. The kingly title was given to Zapolya,
but Ferdinand was to follow him on the throne. Before this, in January
1531, he had been chosen king of the Romans, or German king, at Cologne,
and his coronation took place a few days later at Aix-la-Chapelle. He
had thoroughly earned this honour by his loyalty to his brother, whom he
had represented at several diets. In religious matters the king was now
inclined, probably owing to the Turkish danger, to steer a middle course
between the contending parties, and in 1532 he agreed to the religious
peace of Nuremberg, receiving in return from the Protestants some
assistance for the war against the Turks. In 1534, however, his prestige
suffered a severe rebuff. Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and his associates
had succeeded in conquering Wurttemberg on behalf of its exiled duke,
Ulrich (q.v.), and, otherwise engaged, neither Charles nor Ferdinand
could send much help to their lieutenants. They were consequently
obliged to consent to the treaty of Cadan, made in June 1534, by which
the German king recognized Ulrich as duke of Wurttemberg, on condition
that he held his duchy under Austrian suzerainty.
In Hungary the peace of 1538 was not permanent. When Zapolya died in
July 1540 a powerful faction refused to admit the right of Ferdinand to
succeed him, and put forward his young son John Sigismund as a candidate
for the throne. The cause of John Sigismund was espoused by the Turks
and by Ferdinand's other enemies, and, unable to get any serious
assistance from the imperial diet, the king repeatedly sought to make
peace with the sultan, but his envoys were haughtily repulsed. In 1544,
however, a short truce was made. This was followed by others, and in
1547 one was concluded for five years, but only on condition that
Ferdinand paid tribute for the small part of Hungary which remained in
his hands. The struggle was renewed in 1551 and was continued in the
same desultory fashion until 1562, when a truce was made which lasted
during the remainder of Ferdinand's lifetime. During the war of the
league of Schmalkalden in 1546 and 1547 the king had taken the field
primarily to protect Bohemia, and after the conclusion of the war he put
down a rising in this country with some rigour. He appears during these
years to have governed his lands with vigour and success, but in
imperial politics he was merely the representative and spokesman of the
emperor. About 1546, however, he began to take up a more independent
position. Although Charles had crushed the league of Schmalkalden he had
refused to restore Wurttemberg to Ferdinand; and he gave further offence
by seeking to secure the succession of his son Philip, afterwards king
of Spain, to the imperial throne. Ferdinand naturally objected, but in
1551 his reluctant consent was obtained to the plan that, on the
proposed abdication of Charles, Philip should be chosen king of the
Romans, and should succeed Ferdinand himself as emperor. Subsequent
events caused the scheme to be dropped, but it had a somewhat
unfortunate sequel for Charles, as during the short war between the
emperor and Maurice, elector of Saxony, in 1552 Ferdinand's attitude was
rather that of a spectator and mediator than of a partisan. There seems,
however, to be no truth in the suggestion that he acted treacherously
towards his brother, and was in alliance with his foes. On behalf of
Charles he negotiated the treaty of Passau with Maurice in 1552, and in
1555 after the conduct of imperial business had virtually been made over
to him, and harmony had been restored between the brothers, he was
responsible for the religious peace of Augsburg. Early in 1558 Charles
carried out his intention to abdicate the imperial throne, and on the
24th of March Ferdinand was crowned as his successor at Frankfort. Pope
Paul IV. would not recognize the new emperor, but his successor Pius IV.
did so in 1559 through the mediation of Philip of Spain. The emperor's
short reign was mainly spent in seeking to settle the religious
differences of Germany, and in efforts to prosecute the Turkish war more
vigorously. His hopes at one time centred round the council of Trent
which resumed its sittings in 1562, but he was unable to induce the
Protestants to be represented. Although he held firmly to the Roman
Catholic Church he sought to obtain tangible concessions to her
opponents; but he refused to conciliate the Protestants by abrogating
the clause concerning ecclesiastical reservation in the peace of
Augsburg, and all his efforts to bring about reunion were futile. He did
indeed secure the privilege of communion in both kinds from Pius IV. for
the laity in Bohemia and in various parts of Germany, but the hearty
support which he gave the Jesuits shows that he had no sympathy with
Protestantism, and was only anxious to restore union in the Church. In
November 1562 he obtained the election of his son Maximilian as king of
the Romans, and having arranged a partition of his lands among his three
surviving sons, died in Vienna on the 25th of July 1564. His family had
consisted of six sons and nine daughters.
In spite of constant and harassing engagements Ferdinand was fairly
successful both as king and emperor. He sought to consolidate his
Austrian lands, reformed the monetary system in Germany, and reorganized
the Aulic council (_Reichshofrat_). Less masterful but more popular than
his brother, whose character overshadows his own, he was just and
tolerant, a good Catholic and a conscientious ruler.
See the article on CHARLES V. and the bibliography appended thereto.
Also, A. Ulloa, _Vita del potentissimo e christianissimo imperatore
Ferdinando primo_ (Venice, 1565); S. Schard, _Epitome rerum in variis
orbis partibus a confirmatione Ferdinandi I_. (Basel, 1574); F.B. von
Bucholtz_, Geschichte der Regierung Ferdinands des Ersten_ (Vienna,
1831-1838); K. Oberleitner, _Osterreichs Finanzen und Kriegswesen
unter Ferdinand I_. (Vienna, 1859); A. Rezek, _Geschichte der
Regierung Ferdinands I. in Bohmen_ (Prague, 1878); E. Rosenthal, _Die
Behordenorganisation Kaiser Ferdinands I_. (Vienna, 1887); and W.
Bauer, _Die Anfange Ferdinands I_. (Vienna, 1907).
FERDINAND II. (1578-1637), Roman emperor, was the eldest son of Charles,
archduke of Styria (d. 1590), and his wife Maria, daughter of Albert
IV., duke of Bavaria and a grandson of the emperor Ferdinand I. Born at
Gratz on the 9th of July 1578, he was trained by the Jesuits, finishing
his education at the university of Ingolstadt, and became the pattern
prince of the counter-reformation. In 1596 he undertook the government
of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, and after a visit to Italy began an
organized attack on Protestantism which under his father's rule had made
great progress in these archduchies; and although hampered by the
inroads of the Turks, he showed his indifference to the material welfare
of his dominions by compelling many of his Protestant subjects to choose
between exile and conversion, and by entirely suppressing Protestant
worship. He was not, however, unmindful of the larger interest of his
family, or of the Empire which the Habsburgs regarded as belonging to
them by hereditary right. In 1606 he joined his kinsmen in recognizing
his cousin Matthias as the head of the family in place of the lethargic
Rudolph II.; but he shrank from any proceedings which might lead to the
deposition of the emperor, whom he represented at the diet of Regensburg
in 1608; and his conduct was somewhat ambiguous during the subsequent
quarrel between Rudolph and Matthias.
In the first decade of the 17th century the house of Habsburg seemed
overtaken by senile decay, and the great inheritance of Charles V. and
Ferdinand I. to be threatened with disintegration and collapse. The
reigning emperor, Rudolph II., was inert and childless; his surviving
brothers, the archduke Matthias (afterwards emperor), Maximilian
(1558-1618) and Albert (1559-1621), all men of mature age, were also
without direct heirs; the racial differences among its subjects were
increased by their religious animosities; and it appeared probable that
the numerous enemies of the Habsburgs had only to wait a few years and
then to divide the spoil. In spite of the recent murder of Henry IV. of
France, this issue seemed still more likely when Matthias succeeded
Rudolph as emperor in 1612. The Habsburgs, however, were not indifferent
to the danger, and about 1615 it was agreed that Ferdinand, who already
had two sons by his marriage with his cousin Maria Anna (d. 1616),
daughter of William V., duke of Bavaria, should be the next emperor, and
should succeed Matthias in the elective kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia.
The obstacles which impeded the progress of the scheme were gradually
overcome by the energy of the archduke Maximilian. The elder archdukes
renounced their rights in the succession; the claims of Philip III. and
the Spanish Habsburgs were bought off by a promise of Alsace; and the
emperor consented to his supercession in Hungary and Bohemia. In 1617
Ferdinand, who was just concluding a war with Venice, was chosen king of
Bohemia, and in 1618 king of Hungary; but his election as German king,
or king of the Romans, delayed owing to the anxiety of Melchior Klesl
(q.v.) to conciliate the protestant princes, had not been accomplished
when Matthias died in March 1619. Before this event, however, an
important movement had begun in Bohemia. Having been surprised into
choosing a devoted Roman Catholic as their king, the Bohemian
Protestants suddenly realized that their religious, and possibly their
civil liberties, were seriously menaced, and deeds of aggression on the
part of Ferdinand's representatives showed that this was no idle fear.
Gaining the upper hand they declared Ferdinand deposed, and elected the
elector palatine of the Rhine, Frederick V., in his stead; and the
struggle between the rivals was the beginning of the Thirty Years' War.
At the same time other difficulties confronted Ferdinand, who had not
yet secured the imperial throne. Bethlen Gabor, prince of Transylvania,
invaded Hungary, while the Austrians rose and joined the Bohemians; but
having seen his foes retreat from Vienna, Ferdinand hurried to
Frankfort, where he was chosen emperor on the 28th of August 1619.
To deal with the elector palatine and his allies the new emperor allied
himself with Maximilian I., duke of Bavaria, and the Catholic League,
who drove Frederick from Bohemia in 1620, while Ferdinand's Spanish
allies devastated the Palatinate. Peace having been made with Bethlen
Gabor in December 1621, the first period of the war ended in a
satisfactory fashion for the emperor, and he could turn his attention to
completing the work of crushing the Protestants, which had already begun
in his archduchies and in Bohemia. In 1623 the Protestant clergy were
expelled from Bohemia; in 1624 all worship save that of the Roman
Catholic church was forbidden; and in 1627 an order of banishment
against all Protestants was issued. A new constitution made the kingdom
hereditary in the house of Habsburg, gave larger powers to the
sovereign, and aimed at destroying the nationality of the Bohemians.
Similar measures in Austria led to a fresh rising which was put down by
the aid of the Bavarians in 1627, and Ferdinand could fairly claim that
in his hereditary lands at least he had rendered Protestantism
innocuous.
The renewal of the Thirty Years' War in 1625 was caused mainly by the
emperor's vigorous championship of the cause of the counter-reformation
in northern and north-eastern Germany. Again the imperial forces were
victorious, chiefly owing to the genius of Wallenstein, who raised and
led an army in this service, although the great scheme of securing the
southern coast of the Baltic for the Habsburgs was foiled partly by the
resistance of Stralsund. In March 1629 Ferdinand and his advisers felt
themselves strong enough to take the important step towards which their
policy in the Empire had been steadily tending. Issuing the famous edict
of restitution, the emperor ordered that all lands which had been
secularized since 1552, the date of the peace of Passau, should be
restored to the church, and prompt measures were taken to enforce this
decree. Many and powerful interests were vitally affected by this
proceeding, and the result was the outbreak of the third period of the
war, which was less favourable to the imperial arms than the preceding
ones. This comparative failure was due, in the initial stages of the
campaign, to Ferdinand's weakness in assenting in 1630 to the demand of
Maximilian of Bavaria that Wallenstein should be deprived of his
command, and also to the genius of Gustavus Adolphus; and in its later
stages to his insistence on the second removal of Wallenstein, and to
his complicity in the assassination of the general. This deed was
followed by the peace of Prague, concluded in 1635, primarily with John
George I., elector of Saxony, but soon assented to by other princes; and
this treaty, which made extensive concessions to the Protestants, marks
the definite failure of Ferdinand to crush Protestantism in the Empire,
as he had already done in Austria and Bohemia. It is noteworthy,
however, that the emperor refused to allow the inhabitants of his
hereditary dominions to share in the benefits of the peace. During these
years Ferdinand had also been menaced by the secret or open hostility of
France. A dispute over the duchies of Mantua and Monferrato was ended
by the treaty of Cherasco in 1631, but the influence of France was
employed at the imperial diets and elsewhere in thwarting the plans of
Ferdinand and in weakening the power of the Habsburgs. The last
important act of the emperor was to secure the election of his son
Ferdinand as king of the Romans. An attempt in 1630 to attain this end
had failed, but in December 1636 the princes, meeting at Regensburg,
bestowed the coveted dignity upon the younger Ferdinand. A few weeks
afterwards, on the 15th of February 1637, the emperor died at Vienna,
leaving, in addition to the king of the Romans, a son Leopold William
(1614-1662), bishop of Passau and Strassburg. Ferdinand's reign was so
occupied with the Thirty Years' War and the struggle with the
Protestants that he had little time or inclination for other business.
It is interesting to note, however, that this orthodox and Catholic
emperor was constantly at variance with Pope Urban VIII. The quarrel was
due principally, but not entirely, to events in Italy, where the pope
sided with France in the dispute over the succession to Mantua and
Monferrato. The succession question was settled, but the enmity
remained; Urban showing his hostility by preventing the election of the
younger Ferdinand as king of the Romans in 1630, and by turning a deaf
ear to the emperor's repeated requests for assistance to prosecute the
war against the heretics. Ferdinand's character has neither
individuality nor interest, but he ruled the Empire during a critical
and important period. Kind and generous to his dependents, his private
life was simple and blameless, but he was to a great extent under the
influence of his confessors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The chief authorities for Ferdinand's life and reign
are F.C. Khevenhiller, _Annales Ferdinandei_ (Regensburg, 1640-1646);
F. van Hurter, _Geschichte Kaiser Ferdinands II_. (Schaffhausen,
1850-1855); _Korrespondenz Kaiser Ferdinands II. mit P. Becanus und
P.W. Lamormaini_, edited by B. Dudik (Vienna, 1848 fol.); and F.
Stieve, in the _Allegmeine deutsche Biographie_, Band vi. (Leipzig,
1877). See also the elaborate bibliography in the _Cambridge Modern
History_, vol. iv. (Cambridge, 1906).
FERDINAND III. (1608-1657), Roman emperor, was the elder son of the
emperor Ferdinand II., and was born at Gratz on the 13th of July 1608.
Educated by the Jesuits, he was crowned king of Hungary in December
1625, and king of Bohemia two years later, and soon began to take part
in imperial business. Wallenstein, however, refused to allow him to hold
a command in the imperial army; and henceforward reckoned among his
enemies, the young king was appointed the successor of the famous
general when he was deposed in 1634; and as commander-in-chief of the
imperial troops he was nominally responsible for the capture of
Regensburg and Donauworth, and the defeat of the Swedes at Nordlingen.
Having been elected king of the Romans, or German king, at Regensburg in
December 1636, Ferdinand became emperor on his father's death in the
following February, and showed himself anxious to put an end to the
Thirty Years' War. He persuaded one or two princes to assent to the
terms of the treaty of Prague; but a general peace was delayed by his
reluctance to grant religious liberty to the Protestants, and by his
anxiety to act in unison with Spain. In 1640 he had refused to entertain
the idea of a general amnesty suggested by the diet at Regensburg; but
negotiations for peace were soon begun, and in 1648 the emperor assented
to the treaty of Westphalia. This event belongs rather to the general
history of Europe, but it is interesting to note that owing to
Ferdinand's insistence the Protestants in his hereditary dominions did
not obtain religious liberty at this settlement. After 1648 the emperor
was engaged in carrying out the terms of the treaty and ridding Germany
of the foreign soldiery. In 1656 he sent an army into Italy to assist
Spain in her struggle with France, and he had just concluded an alliance
with Poland to check the aggressions of Charles X, of Sweden when he
died on the 2nd of April 1657. Ferdinand was a scholarly and cultured
man, an excellent linguist and a composer of music. Industrious and
popular in public life, his private life was blameless; and although a
strong Roman Catholic he was less fanatical than his father. His first
wife was Maria Anna (d. 1646), daughter of Philip III. of Spain, by whom
he had three sons: Ferdinand, who was chosen king of the Romans in
1653, and who died in the following year; Leopold, who succeeded his
father on the imperial throne; and Charles Joseph (d. 1664), bishop of
Passau and Breslau, and grand-master of the Teutonic order. The
emperor's second wife was his cousin Maria (d. 1649), daughter of the
archduke Leopold; and his third wife was Eleanora of Mantua (d. 1686).
His musical works, together with those of the emperors Leopold I. and
Joseph I., have been published by G. Adler (Vienna, 1892-1893).
See M. Koch, _Geschichte des deutschen Reiches unter der Regierung
Ferdinands III_. (Vienna, 1865-1866).
FERDINAND I. (1793-1875), emperor of Austria, eldest son of Francis I.
and of Maria Theresa of Naples, was born at Vienna on the 19th of April
1793. In his boyhood he suffered from epileptic fits, and could
therefore not receive a regular education. As his health improved with
his growth and with travel, he was not set aside from the succession. In
1830 his father caused him to be crowned king of Hungary, a pure
formality, which gave him no power, and was designed to avoid possible
trouble in the future. In 1831 he was married to Anna, daughter of
Victor Emmanuel I. of Sardinia. The marriage was barren. When Francis I.
died on the 2nd of March 1835, Ferdinand was recognized as his
successor. But his incapacity was so notorious that the conduct of
affairs was entrusted to a council of state, consisting of Prince
Metternich (q.v.) with other ministers, and two archdukes, Louis and
Francis Charles. They composed the _Staatsconferenz_, the
ill-constructed and informal regency which led the Austrian dominions to
the revolutionary outbreaks of 1846-1849. (See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.) The
emperor, who was subject to fits of actual insanity, and in his lucid
intervals was weak and confused in mind, was a political nullity. His
personal amiability earned him the affectionate pity of his subjects,
and he became the hero of popular stories which did not tend to maintain
the dignity of the crown. It was commonly said that having taken refuge
on a rainy day in a farmhouse he was so tempted by the smell of the
dumplings which the farmer and his family were eating for dinner, that
he insisted on having one. His doctor, who knew them to be indigestible,
objected, and thereupon Ferdinand, in an imperial rage, made the
answer:--"Kaiser bin i', und Knudel muss i' haben" (I am emperor, and
will have the dumpling)--which has become a Viennese proverb. His
popular name of _Der Gutige_ (the good sort of man) expressed as much
derision as affection. Ferdinand had good taste for art and music. Some
modification of the tight-handed rule of his father was made by the
_Staatsconferenz_ during his reign. In the presence of the revolutionary
troubles, which began with agrarian riots in Galicia in 1846, and then
spread over the whole empire, he was personally helpless. He was
compelled to escape from the disorders of Vienna to Innsbruck on the
17th of May 1848. He came back on the invitation of the diet on the 12th
of August, but soon had to escape once more from the mob of students and
workmen who were in possession of the city. On the 2nd of December he
abdicated at Olmutz in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph. He lived
under supervision by doctors and guardians at Prague till his death on
the 29th of June 1855.
See Krones von Marchland, _Grundriss der osterreichischen Geschichte_
(Vienna, 1882), which gives an ample bibliography; Count F. Hartig,
_Genesis der Revolution in Osterreich_ (Leipzig, 1850),--an enlarged
English translation will be found in the 4th volume of W. Coxe's
_House of Austria_ (London, 1862).
FERDINAND I. (1423-1494), also called Don Ferrante, king of Naples, the
natural son of Alphonso V. of Aragon and I. of Sicily and Naples, was
horn in 1423. In accordance with his father's will, he succeeded him on
the throne of Naples in 1458, but Pope Calixtus III. declared the line
of Aragon extinct and the kingdom a fief of the church. But although he
died before he could make good his claim (August 1458), and the new Pope
Pius II. recognized Ferdinand, John of Anjou, profiting by the
discontent of the Neapolitan barons, decided to try to regain the throne
conquered by his ancestors, and invaded Naples. Ferdinand was severely
defeated by the Angevins and the rebels at Sarno in July 1460, but with
the help of Alessandro Sforza and of the Albanian chief, Skanderbeg,
who chivalrously came to the aid of the prince whose father had aided
him, he triumphed over his enemies, and by 1464 had re-established his
authority in the kingdom. In 1478 he allied himself with Pope Sixtus IV.
against Lorenzo de' Medici, but the latter journeyed alone to Naples
when he succeeded in negotiating an honourable peace with Ferdinand. In
1480 the Turks captured Otranto, and massacred the majority of the
inhabitants, but in the following year it was retaken by his son
Alphonso, duke of Calabria. His oppressive government led in 1485 to an
attempt at revolt on the part of the nobles, led by Francesca Coppola
and Antonello Sanseverino and supported by Pope Innocent VIII.; the
rising having been crushed, many of the nobles, notwithstanding
Ferdinand's promise of a general amnesty, were afterwards treacherously
murdered at his express command. In 1493 Charles VIII. of France was
preparing to invade Italy for the conquest of Naples, and Ferdinand
realized that this was a greater danger than any he had yet faced. With
almost prophetic instinct he warned the Italian princes of the
calamities in store for them, but his negotiations with Pope Alexander
VI. and Ludovico il Moro, lord of Milan, having failed, he died in
January 1494, worn out with anxiety. Ferdinand was gifted with great
courage and real political ability, but his method of government was
vicious and disastrous. His financial administration was based on
oppressive and dishonest monopolies, and he was mercilessly severe and
utterly treacherous towards his enemies.
AUTHORITIES.--_Codice Aragonese_, edited by F. Trinchera (Naples,
1866-1874); P. Giannone, _Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli_; J.
Alvini, _De gestis regum Neapol. ab Aragonia_ (Naples, 1588); S. de
Sismondi, _Histoire des republiques italiennes_, vols. v. and vi.
(Brussels, 1838); P. Villari, _Machiavelli_, pp. 60-64 (Engl. transl.,
London, 1892); for the revolt of the nobles in 1485 see Camillo
Porzio, _La Congiura dei Baroni_ (first published Rome, 1565; many
subsequent editions), written in the Royalist interest. (L. V.*)
FERDINAND II. (1469-1496), king of Naples, was the grandson of the
preceding, and son of Alphonso II. Alphonso finding his tenure of the
throne uncertain on account of the approaching invasion of Charles VIII.
of France and the general dissatisfaction of his subjects, abdicated in
his son's favour in 1495, but notwithstanding this the treason of a
party in Naples rendered it impossible to defend the city against the
approach of Charles VIII. Ferdinand fled to Ischia; but when the French
king left Naples with most of his army, in consequence of the formation
of an Italian league against him, he returned, defeated the French
garrisons, and the Neapolitans, irritated by the conduct of their
conquerors during the occupation of the city, received him back with
enthusiasm; with the aid of the great Spanish general Gonzalo de Cordova
he was able completely to rid his state of its invaders shortly before
his death, which occurred on the 7th of September 1496.
For authorities see under FERDINAND I. of Naples; for the exploits of
Gonzalo de Cordova see H.P. del Pulgar, _Cronica del gran capitano don
Gonzalo de Cordoba_ (new ed., Madrid, 1834).
FERDINAND IV. (1751-1825), king of Naples (III. of Sicily, and I. of the
Two Sicilies), third son of Don Carlos of Bourbon, king of Naples and
Sicily (afterwards Charles III. of Spain), was born in Naples on the
12th of January 1751. When his father ascended the Spanish throne in
1759 Ferdinand, in accordance with the treaties forbidding the union of
the two crowns, succeeded him as king of Naples, under a regency
presided over by the Tuscan Bernardo Tanucci. The latter, an able,
ambitious man, wishing to keep the government as much as possible in his
own hands, purposely neglected the young king's education, and
encouraged him in his love of pleasure, his idleness and his excessive
devotion to outdoor sports. Ferdinand grew up athletic, but ignorant,
ill-bred, addicted to the lowest amusements; he delighted in the company
of the _lazzaroni_ (the most degraded class of the Neapolitan people),
whose dialect and habits he affected, and he even sold fish in the
market, haggling over the price.
His minority ended in 1767, and his first act was the expulsion of the
Jesuits. The following year he married Maria Carolina, daughter of the
empress Maria Theresa. By the marriage contract the queen was to have a
voice in the council of state after the birth of her first son, and she
was not slow to avail herself of this means of political influence.
Beautiful, clever and proud, like her mother, but cruel and treacherous,
her ambition was to raise the kingdom of Naples to the position of a
great power; she soon came to exercise complete sway over her stupid and
idle husband, and was the real ruler of the kingdom. Tanucci, who
attempted to thwart her, was dismissed in 1777, and the Englishman Sir
John Acton (1736), who in 1779 was appointed director of marine,
succeeded in so completely winning the favour of Maria Carolina, by
supporting her in her scheme to free Naples from Spanish influence and
securing a _rapprochement_ with Austria and England, that he became
practically and afterwards actually prime minister. Although not a mere
grasping adventurer, he was largely responsible for reducing the
internal administration of the country to an abominable system of
espionage, corruption and cruelty. On the outbreak of the French
Revolution the Neapolitan court was not hostile to the movement, and the
queen even sympathized with the revolutionary ideas of the day. But when
the French monarchy was abolished and the royal pair beheaded, Ferdinand
and Carolina were seized with a feeling of fear and horror and joined
the first coalition against France in 1793. Although peace was made with
France in 1796, the demands of the French Directory, whose troops
occupied Rome, alarmed the king once more, and at his wife's instigation
he took advantage of Napoleon's absence in Egypt and of Nelson's
victories to go to war. He marched with his army against the French and
entered Rome (29th of November), but on the defeat of some of his
columns he hurried back to Naples, and on the approach of the French,
fled on board Nelson's ship the "Vanguard" to Sicily, leaving his
capital in a state of anarchy. The French entered the city in spite of
the fierce resistance of the _lazzaroni_, who were devoted to the king,
and with the aid of the nobles and bourgeois established the
Parthenopaean Republic (January 1799). When a few weeks later the French
troops were recalled to the north of Italy, Ferdinand sent an expedition
composed of Calabrians, brigands and gaol-birds, under Cardinal Ruffo, a
man of real ability, great devotion to the king, and by no means so bad
as he has been painted, to reconquer the mainland kingdom. Ruffo was
completely successful, and reached Naples in May. His army and the
_lazzaroni_ committed nameless atrocities, which he honestly tried to
prevent, and the Parthenopaean Republic collapsed.
The savage punishment of the Neapolitan Republicans is dealt with in
more detail under NAPLES, NELSON and CARACCIOLO, but it is necessary to
say here that the king, and above all the queen, were particularly
anxious that no mercy should be shown to the rebels, and Maria Carolina
made use of Lady Hamilton, Nelson's mistress, to induce him to execute
her own spiteful vengeance. Her only excuse is that as a sister of Marie
Antoinette the very name of Republican or Jacobin filled her with
loathing. The king returned to Naples soon afterwards, and ordered
wholesale arrests and executions of supposed Liberals, which continued
until the French successes forced him to agree to a treaty in which
amnesty for members of the French party was included. When war broke out
between France and Austria in 1805, Ferdinand signed a treaty of
neutrality with the former, but a few days later he allied himself with
Austria and allowed an Anglo-Russian force to land at Naples. The French
victory at Austerlitz enabled Napoleon to despatch an army to southern
Italy. Ferdinand with his usual precipitation fled to Palermo (23rd of
January 1806), followed soon after by his wife and son, and on the 14th
of February the French again entered Naples. Napoleon declared that the
Bourbon dynasty had forfeited the crown, and proclaimed his brother
Joseph king of Naples and Sicily. But Ferdinand continued to reign over
the latter kingdom under British protection. Parliamentary institutions
of a feudal type had long existed in the island, and Lord William
Bentinck (q.v.), the British minister, insisted on a reform of the
constitution on English and French lines. The king indeed practically
abdicated his power, appointing his son Francis regent, and the queen,
at Bentinck's instance, was exiled to Austria, where she died in 1814.
After the fall of Napoleon, Joachim Murat, who had succeeded Joseph
Bonaparte as king of Naples in 1808, was dethroned, and Ferdinand
returned to Naples. By a secret treaty he had bound himself not to
advance further in a constitutional direction than Austria should at any
time approve; but, though on the whole he acted in accordance with
Metternich's policy of preserving the _status quo_, and maintained with
but slight change Murat's laws and administrative system, he took
advantage of the situation to abolish the Sicilian constitution, in
violation of his oath, and to proclaim the union of the two states into
the kingdom of the Two Sicilies (December 12th, 1816). He was now
completely subservient to Austria, an Austrian, Count Nugent, being even
made commander-in-chief of the army; and for four years he reigned as a
despot, every tentative effort at the expression of liberal opinion
being ruthlessly suppressed. The result was an alarming spread of the
influence and activity of the secret society of the Carbonari (q.v.),
which in time affected a large part of the army. In July 1820 a military
revolt broke out under General Pepe, and Ferdinand was terrorized into
subscribing a constitution on the model of the impracticable Spanish
constitution of 1812. On the other hand, a revolt in Sicily, in favour
of the recovery of its independence, was suppressed by Neapolitan
troops.
The success of the military revolution at Naples seriously alarmed the
powers of the Holy Alliance, who feared that it might spread to other
Italian states and so lead to that general European conflagration which
it was their main preoccupation to avoid (see EUROPE: _History_). After
long diplomatic negotiations, it was decided to hold a congress _ad hoc_
at Troppau (October 1820). The main results of this congress were the
issue of the famous Troppau Protocol, signed by Austria, Prussia and
Russia only, and an invitation to King Ferdinand to attend the adjourned
congress at Laibach (1821), an invitation of which Great Britain
approved "as implying negotiation" (see TROPPAU, LAIBACH, CONGRESSES
OF). At Laibach Ferdinand played so sorry a part as to provoke the
contempt of those whose policy it was to re-establish him in absolute
power. He had twice sworn, with gratuitous solemnity, to maintain the
new constitution; but he was hardly out of Naples before he repudiated
his oaths and, in letters addressed to all the sovereigns of Europe,
declared his acts to have been null and void. An attitude so indecent
threatened to defeat the very objects of the reactionary powers, and
Gentz congratulated the congress that these sorry protests would be
buried in the archives, offering at the same time to write for the king
a dignified letter in which he should express his reluctance at having
to violate his oaths in the face of irresistible force! But, under these
circumstances, Metternich had no difficulty in persuading the king to
allow an Austrian army to march into Naples "to restore order."
The campaign that followed did little credit either to the Austrians or
the Neapolitans. The latter, commanded by General Pepe (q.v.), who made
no attempt to defend the difficult defiles of the Abruzzi, were
defeated, after a half-hearted struggle at Rieti (March 7th, 1821), and
the Austrians entered Naples. The parliament was now dismissed, and
Ferdinand inaugurated an era of savage persecution, supported by spies
and informers, against the Liberals and Carbonari, the Austrian
commandant in vain protesting against the savagery which his presence
alone rendered possible.
Ferdinand died on the 4th of January 1825. Few sovereigns have left
behind so odious a memory. His whole career is one long record of
perjury, vengeance and meanness, unredeemed by a single generous act,
and his wife was a worthy helpmeet and actively co-operated in his
tyranny.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The standard authority on Ferdinand's reign is Pietro
Colletta's _Storia del Reame di Napoli_ (2nd ed., Florence, 1848),
which, although heavily written and not free from party passion, is
reliable and accurate; L. Conforti, _Napoli nel 1799_ (Naples, 1886);
G. Pepe, _Memorie_ (Paris, 1847), a most valuable book; C. Auriol, _La
France, l'Angleterre, et Naples_ (Paris, 1906); for the Sicilian
period and the British occupation, G. Bianco, _La Sicilia durante
l'occupazione Inglese_ (Palermo, 1902), which contains many new
documents of importance; Freiherr A. von Helfert has attempted the
impossible task of whitewashing Queen Carolina in his _Konigin
Karolina von Neapel und Sicilien_ (Vienna, 1878), and _Maria Karolina
von Oesterreich_ (Vienna, 1884); he has also written a useful life of
_Fabrizio Ruffo_ (Italian edit., Florence, 1885); for the Sicilian
revolution of 1820 see G. Bianco's _La Rivoluzione in Sicilia del
1820_ (Florence, 1905), and M. Amari's _Carteggio_ (Turin, 1896).
(L. V.*)
FERDINAND I., king of Portugal (1345-1383), sometimes referred to as _el
Gentil_ (the Gentleman), son of Pedro I. of Portugal (who is not to be
confounded with his Spanish contemporary Pedro the Cruel), succeeded his
father in 1367. On the death of Pedro of Castile in 1369, Ferdinand, as
great-grandson of Sancho IV. by the female line, laid claim to the
vacant throne, for which the kings of Aragon and Navarre, and afterwards
the duke of Lancaster (married in 1370 to Constance, the eldest daughter
of Pedro), also became competitors. Meanwhile Henry of Trastamara, the
brother (illegitimate) and conqueror of Pedro, had assumed the crown and
taken the field. After one or two indecisive campaigns, all parties were
ready to accept the mediation of Pope Gregory XI. The conditions of the
treaty, ratified in 1371, included a marriage between Ferdinand and
Leonora of Castile. But before the union could take place the former had
become passionately attached to Leonora Tellez, the wife of one of his
own courtiers, and having procured a dissolution of her previous
marriage, he lost no time in making her his queen. This strange conduct,
although it raised a serious insurrection in Portugal, did not at once
result in a war with Henry; but the outward concord was soon disturbed
by the intrigues of the duke of Lancaster, who prevailed on Ferdinand to
enter into a secret treaty for the expulsion of Henry from his throne.
The war which followed was unsuccessful; and peace was again made in
1373. On the death of Henry in 1379, the duke of Lancaster once more put
forward his claims, and again found an ally in Portugal; but, according
to the Continental annalists, the English proved as offensive to their
companions in arms as to their enemies in the field; and Ferdinand made
a peace for himself at Badajoz in 1382, it being stipulated that
Beatrix, the heiress of Ferdinand, should marry King John of Castile,
and thus secure the ultimate union of the crowns. Ferdinand left no male
issue when he died on the 22nd of October 1383, and the direct
Burgundian line, which had been in possession of the throne since the
days of Count Henry (about 1112), became extinct. The stipulations of
the treaty of Badajoz were set aside, and John, grand-master of the
order of Aviz, Ferdinand's illegitimate brother, was proclaimed. This
led to a war which lasted for several years.
FERDINAND I., _El Magno_ or "the Great," king of Castile (_d._ 1065),
son of Sancho of Navarre, was put in possession of Castile in 1028, on
the murder of the last count, as the heir of his mother Elvira, daughter
of a previous count of Castile. He reigned with the title of king. He
married Sancha, sister and heiress of Bermudo, king of Leon. In 1038
Bermudo was killed in battle with Ferdinand at Tamaron, and Ferdinand
then took possession of Leon by right of his wife, and was recognized in
Spain as emperor. The use of the title was resented by the emperor Henry
IV. and by Pope Victor II. in 1055, as implying a claim to the headship
of Christendom, and as a usurpation on the Holy Roman Empire. It did
not, however, mean more than that Spain was independent of the Empire,
and that the sovereign of Leon was the chief of the princes of the
peninsula. Although Ferdinand had grown in power by a fratricidal strife
with Bermudo of Leon, and though at a later date he defeated and killed
his brother Garcia of Navarre, he ranks high among the kings of Spain
who have been counted religious. To a large extent he may have owed his
reputation to the victories over the Mahommedans, with which he began
the period of the great reconquest. But there can be no doubt that
Ferdinand was profoundly pious. Towards the close of his reign he sent a
special embassy to Seville to bring back the body of Santa Justa. The
then king of Seville, Motadhid, one of the small princes who had divided
the caliphate of Cordova, was himself a sceptic and poisoner, but he
stood in wholesome awe of the power of the Christian king. He favoured
the embassy in every way, and when the body of Santa Justa could not be
found, helped the envoys who were also aided by a vision seen by one of
them in a dream, to discover the body of Saint Isidore, which was
reverently carried away to Leon. Ferdinand died on the feast of Saint
John the Evangelist, the 24th of June 1065, in Leon, with many
manifestations of ardent piety--having laid aside his crown and royal
mantle, dressed in the frock of a monk and lying on a bier, covered with
ashes, which was placed before the altar of the church of Saint Isidore.
FERDINAND II., king of Leon only (d. 1188), was the son of Alphonso VII.
and of Berenguela, of the house of the counts of Barcelona. On the
division of the kingdoms which had obeyed his father, he received Leon.
His reign of thirty years was one of strife marked by no signal success
or reverse. He had to contend with his unruly nobles, several of whom he
put to death. During the minority of his nephew Alphonso VIII. of
Castile he endeavoured to impose himself on the kingdom as regent. On
the west he was in more or less constant strife with Portugal, which was
in process of becoming an independent kingdom. His relations to the
Portuguese house must have suffered by his repudiation of his wife
Urraca, daughter of Alphonso I. of Portugal. Though he took the king of
Portugal prisoner in 1180, he made no political use of his success. He
extended his dominions southward in Estremadura at the expense of the
Moors. Ferdinand, who died in 1188, left the reputation of a good knight
and hard fighter, but did not display political or organizing faculty.
FERDINAND III., _El Santo_ or "the Saint," king of Castile (1199-1252),
son of Alphonso IX. of Leon, and of Berengaria, daughter of Alphonso
VIII. of Castile, ranks among the greatest of the Spanish kings. The
marriage of his parents, who were second cousins, was dissolved as
unlawful by the pope, but the legitimacy of the children was recognized.
Till 1217 he lived with his father in Leon. In that year the young king
of Castile, Henry, was killed by accident. Berengaria sent for her son
with such speed that her messenger reached Leon before the news of the
death of the king of Castile, and when he came to her she renounced the
crown in his favour. Alphonso of Leon considered himself tricked, and
the young king had to begin his reign by a war against his father and a
faction of the Castilian nobles. His own ability and the remarkable
capacity of his mother proved too much for the king of Leon and his
Castilian allies. Ferdinand, who showed himself docile to the influence
of Berengaria, so long as she lived, married the wife she found for him,
Beatrice, daughter of the emperor Philip (of Hohenstaufen), and followed
her advice both in prosecuting the war against the Moors and in the
steps which she took to secure his peaceful succession to Leon on the
death of his father in 1231. After the union of Castile and Leon in that
year he began the series of campaigns which ended by reducing the
Mahommedan dominions in Spain to Granada. Cordova fell in 1236, and
Seville in 1248. The king of Granada did homage to Ferdinand, and
undertook to attend the cortes when summoned. The king was a severe
persecutor of the Albigenses, and his formal canonization was due as
much to his orthodoxy as to his crusading by Pope Clement X. in 1671. He
revived the university first founded by his grandfather Alphonso VIII.,
and placed it at Salamanca. By his second marriage with Joan (d. 1279),
daughter of Simon, of Dammartin, count of Ponthieu, by right of his wife
Marie, Ferdinand was the father of Eleanor, the wife of Edward I. of
England.
FERDINAND IV., _El Emplazado_ or "the Summoned," king of Castile (_d_.
1312), son of Sancho El Bravo, and his wife Maria de Molina, is a figure
of small note in Spanish history. His strange title is given him in the
chronicles on the strength of a story that he put two brothers of the
name of Carvajal to death tyrannically, and was given a time, a _plazo_,
by them in which to answer for his crime in the next world. But the tale
is not contemporary, and is an obvious copy of the story told of Jacques
de Molay, grand-master of the Temple, and Philippe Le Bel. Ferdinand IV.
succeeded to the throne when a boy of six. His minority was a time of
anarchy. He owed his escape from the violence of competitors and nobles,
partly to the tact and undaunted bravery of his mother Maria de Molina,
and partly to the loyalty of the citizens of Avila, who gave him refuge
within their walls. As a king he proved ungrateful to his mother, and
weak as a ruler. He died suddenly in his tent at Jaen when preparing for
a raid into the Moorish territory of Granada, on the 7th of September
1312.
FERDINAND I., king of Aragon (1373-1416), called "of Antequera," was the
son of John I. of Castile by his wife Eleanor, daughter of the third
marriage of Peter IV. of Aragon. His surname "of Antequera" was given
him because he was besieging that town, then in the hands of the Moors,
when he was told that the cortes of Aragon had elected him king in
succession to his uncle Martin, the last male of the old line of Wilfred
the Hairy. As infante of Castile Ferdinand had played an honourable
part. When his brother Henry III. died at Toledo, in 1406, the cortes
was sitting, and the nobles offered to make him king in preference to
his nephew John. Ferdinand refused to despoil his brother's infant son,
and even if he did not act on the moral ground he alleged, his sagacity
must have shown him that he would be at the mercy of the men who had
chosen him in such circumstances. As co-regent of the kingdom with
Catherine, widow of Henry III. and daughter of John of Gaunt by his
marriage with Constance, daughter of Peter the Cruel and Maria de
Padilla, Ferdinand proved a good ruler. He restrained the follies of his
sister-in-law, and kept the realm quiet, by firm government, and by
prosecuting the war with the Moors. As king of Aragon his short reign of
two years left him little time to make his mark. Having been bred in
Castile, where the royal authority was, at least in theory, absolute, he
showed himself impatient under the checks imposed on him by the
_fueros_, the chartered rights of Aragon and Catalonia. He particularly
resented the obstinacy of the Barcelonese, who compelled the members of
his household to pay municipal taxes. His most signal act as king was to
aid in closing the Great Schism in the Church by agreeing to the
deposition of the antipope Benedict XIV., an Aragonese. He died at
Ygualada in Catalonia on the 2nd of April 1416.
FERDINAND V. of Castile and Leon, and II. of Aragon (1452-1516), was the
son of John I. of Aragon by his second marriage with Joanna Henriquez,
of the family of the hereditary grand admirals of Castile, and was born
at Sos in Aragon on the 16th of March 1452. Under the name of "the
Catholic" and as the husband of Isabella, queen of Castile, he played a
great part in Europe. His share in establishing the royal authority in
all parts of Spain, in expelling the Moors from Granada, in the conquest
of Navarre, in forwarding the voyages of Columbus, and in contending
with France for the supremacy in Italy, is dealt with elsewhere (see
SPAIN: _History_). In personal character he had none of the attractive
qualities of his wife. It may fairly be said of him that he was purely a
politician. His marriage in 1469 to his cousin Isabella of Castile was
dictated by the desire to unite his own claims to the crown, as the head
of the younger branch of the same family, with hers, in case Henry IV.
should die childless. When the king died in 1474 he made an ungenerous
attempt to procure his own proclamation as king without recognition of
the rights of his wife. Isabella asserted her claims firmly, and at all
times insisted on a voice in the government of Castile. But though
Ferdinand had sought a selfish political advantage at his wife's
expense, he was well aware of her ability and high character. Their
married life was dignified and harmonious; for Ferdinand had no common
vices, and their views in government were identical. The king cared for
nothing but dominion and political power. His character explains the
most ungracious acts of his life, such as his breach of his promises to
Columbus, his distrust of Ximenez and of the Great Captain. He had given
wide privileges to Columbus on the supposition that the discoverer would
reach powerful kingdoms. When islands inhabited by feeble savages were
discovered, Ferdinand appreciated the risk that they might become the
seat of a power too strong to be controlled, and took measures to avert
the danger. He feared that Jimenez and the Great Captain would become
too independent, and watched them in the interest of the royal
authority. Whether he ever boasted, as he is said to have boasted, that
he had deceived Louis XII. of France twelve times, is very doubtful; but
it is certain that when Ferdinand made a treaty, or came to an
understanding with any one, the contract was generally found to contain
implied meanings favourable to himself which the other contracting party
had not expected. The worst of his character was prominently shown after
the death of Isabella in 1504. He endeavoured to lay hands on the
regency of Castile in the name of his insane daughter Joanna, and
without regard to the claims of her husband Philip of Habsburg. The
hostility of the Castilian nobles, by whom he was disliked, baffled him
for a time, but on Philip's early death he reasserted his authority. His
second marriage with Germaine of Foix in 1505 was apparently contracted
in the hope that by securing an heir male he might punish his Habsburg
son-in-law. Aragon did not recognize the right of women to reign, and
would have been detached together with Catalonia, Valencia and the
Italian states if he had had a son. This was the only occasion on which
Ferdinand allowed passion to obscure his political sense, and lead him
into acts which tended to undo his work of national unification. As king
of Aragon he abstained from inroads on the liberties of his subjects
which might have provoked rebellion. A few acts of illegal violence are
recorded of him--as when he invited a notorious demagogue of Saragossa
to visit him in the palace, and caused the man to be executed without
form of trial. Once when presiding over the Aragonese cortes he found
himself sitting in a thorough draught and ordered the window to be shut,
adding in a lower voice, "If it is not against the _fueros_." But his
ill-will did not go beyond such sneers. He was too intent on building up
a great state to complicate his difficulties by internal troubles. His
arrangement of the convention of Guadalupe, which ended the fierce
Agrarian conflicts of Catalonia, was wise and profitable to the country,
though it was probably dictated mainly by a wish to weaken the
landowners by taking away their feudal rights. Ferdinand died at
Madrigalejo in Estremadura on the 23rd of February 1516.
The lives of the kings of this name before Ferdinand V. are contained
in the chronicles, and in the _Anales de Aragon_ of Zurita, and the
History of Spain by Mariana. Both deal at length with the life of
Ferdinand V. Prescott's _History of the Reign of Ferdinand and
Isabella_, in any of its numerous editions, gives a full life of him
with copious references to authorities.
FERDINAND VI., king of Spain (1713-1759), second son of Philip V.,
founder of the Bourbon dynasty, by his first marriage with Maria Louisa
of Savoy, was born at Madrid on the 23rd of September 1713. His youth
was depressed. His father's second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, was a
managing woman, who had no affection except for her own children, and
who looked upon her stepson as an obstacle to their fortunes. The
hypochondria of his father left Elizabeth mistress of the palace.
Ferdinand was married in 1729 to Maria Magdalena Barbara, daughter of
John V. of Portugal. The very homely looks of his wife were thought by
observers to cause the prince a visible shock when he was first
presented to her. Yet he became deeply attached to his wife, and proved
in fact nearly as uxorious as his father. Ferdinand was by temperament
melancholy, shy and distrustful of his own abilities. When complimented
on his shooting, he replied, "It would be hard if there were not
something I could do." As king he followed a steady policy of neutrality
between France and England, and refused to be tempted by the offers of
either into declaring war on the other. In his life he was orderly and
retiring, averse from taking decisions, though not incapable of acting
firmly, as when he cut short the dangerous intrigues of his able
minister Ensenada by dismissing and imprisoning him. Shooting and music
were his only pleasures, and he was the generous patron of the famous
singer Farinelli (q.v.), whose voice soothed his melancholy. The death
of his wife Barbara, who had been devoted to him, and who carefully
abstained from political intrigue, broke his heart. Between the date of
her death in 1758 and his own on the 10th of August 1759 he fell into a
state of prostration in which he would not even dress, but wandered
unshaven, unwashed and in a night-gown about his park. The memoirs of
the count of Fernan Nunez give a shocking picture of his death-bed.
A good account of the reign and character of Ferdinand VI. will be
found in vol. iv. of Coxe's _Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the
House of Bourbon_ (London, 1815). See also _Vida de Carlos III._, by
the count of Fernan Nunez, ed. M. Morel Fatio and Don A. Paz y Melia
(1898).
FERDINAND VII., king of Spain (1784-1833), the eldest son of Charles
IV., king of Spain, and of his wife Maria Louisa of Parma, was born at
the palace of San Ildefonso near Balsain in the Somosierra hills, on the
14th of October 1784. The events with which he was connected were many,
tragic and of the widest European interest. In his youth he occupied the
painful position of an heir apparent who was carefully excluded from all
share in government by the jealousy of his parents, and the prevalence
of a royal favourite. National discontent with a feeble government
produced a revolution in 1808 by which he passed to the throne by the
forced abdication of his father. Then he spent years as the prisoner of
Napoleon, and returned in 1814 to find that while Spain was fighting for
independence in his name a new world had been born of foreign invasion
and domestic revolution. He came back to assert the ancient doctrine
that the sovereign authority resided in his person only. Acting on this
principle he ruled frivolously, and with a wanton indulgence of whims.
In 1820 his misrule provoked a revolt, and he remained in the hands of
insurgents till he was released by foreign intervention in 1823. When
free, he revenged himself with a ferocity which disgusted his allies. In
his last years he prepared a change in the order of succession
established by his dynasty in Spain, which angered a large part of the
nation, and made a civil war inevitable. We have to distinguish the part
of Ferdinand VII. in all these transactions, in which other and better
men were concerned. It can confidently be said to have been uniformly
base. He had perhaps no right to complain that he was kept aloof from
all share in government while only heir apparent, for this was the
traditional practice of his family. But as heir to the throne he had a
right to resent the degradation of the crown he was to inherit, and the
power of a favourite who was his mother's lover. If he had put himself
at the head of a popular rising he would have been followed, and would
have had a good excuse. His course was to enter on dim intrigues at the
instigation of his first wife, Maria Antonietta of Naples. After her
death in 1806 he was drawn into other intrigues by flatterers, and, in
October 1807, was arrested for the conspiracy of the Escorial. The
conspiracy aimed at securing the help of the emperor Napoleon. When
detected, Ferdinand betrayed his associates, and grovelled to his
parents. When his father's abdication was extorted by a popular riot at
Aranjuez in March 1808, he ascended the throne--not to lead his people
manfully, but to throw himself into the hands of Napoleon, in the
fatuous hope that the emperor would support him. He was in his turn
forced to make an abdication and imprisoned in France, while Spain, with
the help of England, fought for its life. At Valancay, where he was sent
as a prisoner of state, he sank contentedly into vulgar vice, and did
not scruple to applaud the French victories over the people who were
suffering unutterable misery in his cause. When restored in March 1814,
on the fall of Napoleon, he had just cause to repudiate the
impracticable constitution made by the cortes without his consent. He
did so, and then governed like an evil-disposed boy--indulging the
merest animal passions, listening to a small _camarilla_ of low-born
favourites, changing his ministers every three months, and acting on the
impulse of whims which were sometimes mere buffoonery, but were at times
lubricous, or ferocious. The autocratic powers of the Grand Alliance,
though forced to support him as the representative of legitimacy in
Spain, watched his proceedings with disgust and alarm. "The king," wrote
Gentz to the hospodar Caradja on the 1st of December 1814, "himself
enters the houses of his first ministers, arrests them, and hands them
over to their cruel enemies"; and again, on the 14th of January 1815,
"The king has so debased himself that he has become no more than the
leading police agent and gaoler of his country." When at last the
inevitable revolt came in 1820 he grovelled to the insurgents as he had
done to his parents, descending to the meanest submissions while fear
was on him, then intriguing and, when detected, grovelling again. When
at the beginning of 1823, as a result of the congress of Verona, the
French invaded Spain,[1] "invoking the God of St Louis, for the sake of
preserving the throne of Spain to a descendant of Henry IV., and of
reconciling that fine kingdom with Europe," and in May the revolutionary
party carried Ferdinand to Cadiz, he continued to make promises of
amendment till he was free. Then, in violation of his oath to grant an
amnesty, he revenged himself for three years of coercion by killing on a
scale which revolted his "rescuers," and against which the duke of
Angouleme, powerless to interfere, protested by refusing the Spanish
decorations offered him for his services. During his last years
Ferdinand's energy was abated. He no longer changed ministers every few
months as a sport, and he allowed some of them to conduct the current
business of government. His habits of life were telling on him. He
became torpid, bloated and horrible to look at. After his fourth
marriage in 1829 with Maria Christina of Naples, he was persuaded by his
wife to set aside the law of succession of Philip V., which gave a
preference to all the males of the family in Spain over the females. His
marriage had brought him only two daughters. When well, he consented to
the change under the influence of his wife. When ill, he was terrified
by priestly advisers, who were partisans of his brother Don Carlos. What
his final decision was is perhaps doubtful. His wife was mistress by his
death-bed, and she could put the words she chose into the mouth of a
dead man--and could move the dead hand at her will. Ferdinand died on
the 29th of September 1833. It had been a frequent saying with the more
zealous royalists of Spain that a king must be wiser than his ministers,
for he was placed on the throne and directed by God. Since the reign of
Ferdinand VII. no one has maintained this unqualified version of the
great doctrine of divine right.
King Ferdinand VII. kept a diary during the troubled years 1820-1823,
which has been published by the count de Casa Valencia.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Louis XVIII.'s speech from the throne, Jan. 28, 1823.
FERDINAND II. (1810-1859), king of the Two Sicilies, son of Francis I,
was born at Palermo on the 12th of January 1810. In his early years he
was credited with Liberal ideas and he was fairly popular, his free and
easy manners having endeared him to the _lazzaroni_. On succeeding his
father in 1830, he published an edict in which he promised to "give his
most anxious attention to the impartial administration of justice," to
reform the finances, and to "use every effort to heal the wounds which
had afflicted the kingdom for so many years"; but these promises seem to
have been meant only to lull discontent to sleep, for although he did
something for the economic development of the kingdom, the existing
burden of taxation was only slightly lightened, corruption continued to
flourish in all departments of the administration, and an absolutism was
finally established harsher than that of all his predecessors, and
supported by even more extensive and arbitrary arrests. Ferdinand was
naturally shrewd, but badly educated, grossly superstitious and
possessed of inordinate self-esteem. Though he kept the machinery of his
kingdom fairly efficient, and was a patriot to the extent of brooking no
foreign interference, he made little account of the wishes or welfare of
his subjects. In 1832 he married Cristina, daughter of Victor Emmanuel
I., king of Sardinia, and shortly after her death in 1836 he took for a
second wife Maria Theresa, daughter of archduke Charles of Austria.
After his Austrian alliance the bonds of despotism were more closely
tightened, and the increasing discontent of his subjects was manifested
by various abortive attempts at insurrection; in 1837 there was a rising
in Sicily in consequence of the outbreak of cholera, and in 1843 the
Young Italy Society tried to organize a general rising, which, however,
only manifested itself in a series of isolated outbreaks. The expedition
of the Bandiera brothers (q.v.) in 1844, although it had no practical
result, aroused great ill-feeling owing to the cruel sentences passed on
the rebels. In January 1848 a rising in Sicily was the signal for
revolutions all over Italy and Europe; it was followed by a movement in
Naples, and the king granted a constitution which he swore to observe.
A dispute, however, arose as to the nature of the oath which should be
taken by the members of the chamber of deputies, and as neither the king
nor the deputies would yield, serious disturbances broke out in the
streets of Naples on the 15th of May; so the king, making these an
excuse for withdrawing his promise, dissolved the national parliament on
the 13th of March 1849. He retired to Gaeta to confer with various
deposed despots, and when the news of the Austrian victory at Novara
(March 1849) reached him, he determined to return to a reactionary
policy. Sicily, whence the Royalists had been expelled, was subjugated
by General Filangieri (q.v.), and the chief cities were bombarded, an
expedient which won for Ferdinand the epithet of "King Bomba." During
the last years of his reign espionage and arbitrary arrests prevented
all serious manifestations of discontent among his subjects. In 1851 the
political prisoners of Naples were calculated by Mr Gladstone in his
letters to Lord Aberdeen (1851) to number 15,000 (probably the real
figure was nearer 40,000), and so great was the scandal created by the
prevailing reign of terror, and the abominable treatment to which the
prisoners were subjected, that in 1856 France and England made
diplomatic representations to induce the king to mitigate his rigour and
proclaim a general amnesty, but without success. An attempt was made by
a soldier to assassinate Ferdinand in 1856. He died on the 22nd of May
1856, just after the declaration of war by France and Piedmont against
Austria, which was to result in the collapse of his kingdom and his
dynasty. He was bigoted, cruel, mean, treacherous, though not without a
certain bonhomie; the only excuse that can be made for him is that with
his heredity and education a different result could scarcely be
expected.
See _Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Naples and Sicily,
1848-1849, presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her
Majesty_, 4th May 1849; _Two Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen_, by the
Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone, 1st ed., 1851 (an edition published in 1852
and the subsequent editions contain an _Examination of the Official
Reply of the Neapolitan Government_); N. Nisco, _Ferdinando II. il suo
regno_ (Naples, 1884); H. Remsen Whitehouse, _The Collapse of the
Kingdom of Naples_ (New York, 1899); R. de Cesare, _La Caduta d' un
Regno_, vol. i. (Citta di Castello, 1900), which contains a great deal
of fresh information, but is badly arranged and not always reliable.
(L. V.*)
FERDINAND III. (1769-1824), grand duke of Tuscany, and archduke of
Austria, second son of the emperor Leopold II., was born on the 6th of
May 1769. On his father becoming emperor in 1790, he succeeded him as
grand duke of Tuscany. Ferdinand was one of the first sovereigns to
enter into diplomatic relations with the French republic (1793); and
although, a few months later, he was compelled by England and Russia to
join the coalition against France, he concluded peace with that power in
1795, and by observing a strict neutrality saved his dominions from
invasion by the French, except for a temporary occupation of Livorno,
till 1799, when he was compelled to vacate his throne, and a provisional
Republican government was established at Florence. Shortly afterwards
the French arms suffered severe reverses in Italy, and Ferdinand was
restored to his territories; but in 1801, by the peace of Luneville,
Tuscany was converted into the kingdom of Etruria, and he was again
compelled to return to Vienna. In lieu of the sovereignty of Tuscany, he
obtained in 1802 the electorship of Salzburg, which he exchanged by the
peace of Pressburg in 1805 for that of Wurzburg. In 1806 he was admitted
as grand duke of Wurzburg to the confederation of the Rhine. He was
restored to the throne of Tuscany after the abdication of Napoleon in
1814 and was received with enthusiasm by the people, but had again to
vacate his capital for a short time in 1815, when Murat proclaimed war
against Austria. The final overthrow of the French supremacy at the
battle of Waterloo secured him, however, in the undisturbed possession
of his grand duchy during the remainder of his life. The restoration in
Tuscany was not accompanied by the reactionary excesses which
characterized it elsewhere, and a large part of the French legislation
was retained. His prime minister was Count V. Fossombroni (q.v.). The
mild rule of Ferdinand, his solicitude for the welfare of his subjects,
his enlightened patronage of art and science, his encouragement of
commerce, and his toleration render him an honourable exception to the
generality of Italian princes. At the same time his paternal despotism
tended to emasculate the Tuscan character. He died in June 1824, and was
succeeded by his son Leopold II. (q.v.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A. von Reumont, _Geschichte Toscanas_ (Gotha, 1877);
and "Federico Manfredini e la politica Toscana nei primi anni di
Ferdinando III." (in the _Archivio Storico Italiano_, 1877); Emmer,
_Erzherzog Ferdinand III._, _Grossherzog von Toskana_ (Salzburg,
1871); C. Tivaroni, _L' Italia durante il dominio francese_, ii. 1-44
(Turin, 1889), and _L' Italia durante il dominio austriaco_, ii. 1-18
(Turin, 1893). See also under FOSSOMBRONI; VITTORIO; and CAPPONI,
GINO.
FERDINAND, MAXIMILIAN KARL LEOPOLD MARIA, king of Bulgaria (1861- ),
fifth and youngest son of Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was
born on the 26th of February 1861. Great care was exercised in his
education, and every encouragement given to the taste for natural
history which he exhibited at an early age. In 1879 he travelled with
his brother Augustus to Brazil, and the results of their botanical
observations were published at Vienna, 1883-1888, under the title of
_Itinera Principum S. Coburgi_. Having been appointed to a lieutenancy
in the 2nd regiment of Austrian hussars, he was holding this rank when,
by unanimous vote of the National Assembly, he was elected prince of
Bulgaria, on the 7th of July 1887, in succession to Prince Alexander,
who had abdicated on the 7th of September preceding. He assumed the
government on the 14th of August 1887, for Russia for a long time
refused to acknowledge the election, and he was accordingly exposed to
frequent military conspiracies, due to the influence or attitude of that
power. The firmness and vigour with which he met all attempts at
revolution were at length rewarded, and his election was confirmed in
March 1896 by the Porte and the great powers. On the 20th of April 1893
he married Marie Louise de Bourbon (d. 1899), eldest daughter of Duke
Robert of Parma, and in May following the Grand Sobranye confirmed the
title of Royal Highness to the prince and his heir. The prince adhered
to the Roman Catholic faith, but his son and heir, the young Prince
Boris, was received into the Orthodox Greek Church on the 14th of
February 1896. Prince Boris, to whom the tsar Nicholas III. became
godfather, accompanied his father to Russia in 1898, when Prince
Ferdinand visited St Petersburg and Moscow, and still further
strengthened the bond already existing between Russia and Bulgaria. In
1908 Ferdinand married Eleanor (b. 1860), a princess of the house of
Reuss. Later in the year, in connexion with the Austrian annexation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the crisis with Turkey, he proclaimed the
independence of Bulgaria, and took the title of king or tsar. (See
BULGARIA, and EUROPE: _History_.)
FERDINAND, duke of Brunswick (1721-1792), Prussian general field marshal,
was the fourth son of Ferdinand Albert, duke of Brunswick, and was born
at Wolfenbuttel on the 12th of January 1721. He was carefully educated
with a view to a military career, and in his twentieth year he was made
chief of a newly-raised Brunswick regiment in the Prussian service. He
was present in the battles of Mollwitz and Chotusitz. In succession to
Margrave Wilhelm of Brandenburg, killed at Prague (1744), Ferdinand
received the command of Frederick the Great's _Leibgarde_ battalion, and
at Sohr (1745) he distinguished himself so greatly at the head of his
brigade that Frederick wrote of him, "le Prince Ferdinand s'est
surpasse." The height which he captured was defended by his brother
Ludwig as an officer of the Austrian service, and another brother of Duke
Ferdinand was killed by his side in the charge. During the ten years'
peace he was in the closest touch with the military work of Frederick the
Great, who supervised the instruction of the guard battalion, and sought
to make it a model of the whole Prussian army. Ferdinand was, moreover,
one of the most intimate friends of the king, and thus he was peculiarly
fitted for the tasks which afterwards fell to his lot. In this time he
became successively major-general and lieutenant-general. In the first
campaign of the Seven Years' War Ferdinand commanded one of the Prussian
columns which converged upon Dresden, and in the operations which led up
to the surrender of the Saxon army at Pirna (1756), and at the battle of
Lobositz, he led the right wing of the Prussian infantry. In 1757 he was
present, and distinguished himself, at Prague, and he served also in the
campaign of Rossbach. Shortly after this he was appointed to command the
allied forces which were being organized for the war in western Germany.
He found this army dejected by a reverse and a capitulation, yet within a
week of his taking up the command he assumed the offensive, and thus
began the career of victory which made his European reputation as a
soldier. His conduct of the five campaigns which followed (see SEVEN
YEARS' WAR) was naturally influenced by the teachings of Frederick, whose
pupil the duke had been for so many years. Ferdinand, indeed,
approximated more closely to Frederick in his method of making war than
any other general of the time. Yet his task was in many respects far more
difficult than that of the king. Frederick was the absolute master of his
own homogeneous army, Ferdinand merely the commander of a group of
contingents, and answerable to several princes for the troops placed
under his control. The French were by no means despicable opponents in
the field, and their leaders, if not of the first grade, were cool and
experienced veterans. In 1758 he fought and won the battle of Crefeld,
several marches beyond the Rhine, but so advanced a position he could not
well maintain, and he fell back to the Lippe. He resumed a bold offensive
in 1759, only to be repulsed at Bergen (near Frankfort-on-Main). On the
1st of August of this year Ferdinand won the brilliant victory of Minden
(q.v.). Vellinghausen, Wilhelmsthal, Warburg and other victories attested
the increasing power of Ferdinand in the following campaigns, and
Frederick, hard pressed in the eastern theatre of war, owed much of his
success in an almost hopeless task to the continued pressure exerted by
Ferdinand in the west. In promoting him to be a field marshal (November
1758) Frederick acknowledged his debt in the words, "Je n'ai fait que ce
que je dois, mon cher Ferdinand." After Minden, King George II. gave the
duke the order of the Garter, and the thanks of the British parliament
were voted on the same occasion to the "Victor of Minden." After the war
he was honoured by other sovereigns, and he received the rank of field
marshal and a regiment from the Austrians. During the War of American
Independence there was a suggestion, which came to nothing, of offering
him the command of the British forces. He exerted himself to compensate
those who had suffered by the Seven Years' War, devoting to this purpose
most of the small income he received from his various offices and the
rewards given to him by the allied princes. The estrangement of Frederick
and Ferdinand in 1766 led to the duke's retirement from Prussian service,
but there was no open breach between the old friends, and Ferdinand
visited the king in 1772, 1777, 1779 and 1782. After 1766 he passed the
remainder of his life at his castle of Veschelde, where he occupied
himself in building and other improvements, and became a patron of
learning and art, and a great benefactor of the poor. He died on the 3rd
of July 1792. The merits, civil and military, of the prince were
recognized by memorials not only in Prussia and Hanover, but also in
Denmark, the states of western Germany and England. The Prussian
memorials include an equestrian statue at Berlin (1863).
See E. v. L. Knesebeck, _Ferdinand, Herzog von Braunschweig und
Luneburg, wahrend des Siebenjahrigen Kriegs_ (2 vols., Hanover,
1857-1858); Von Westphalen, _Geschichte der Feldzuge des Herzogs
Ferdinands von Braunschweig-Luneburg_ (5 vols., Berlin, 1859-1872); v.
d. Osten, _Tagebuch des Herzogl. Gen. Adjutanten v. Reden_ (Hamburg,
1805); v. Schafer, _Vie militaire du marechal Prince Ferdinand_
(Magdeburg, 1796; Nuremberg, 1798); also the _Oeuvres_ of Frederick
the Great, _passim_, and authorities for the SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
FERDINAND (1577-1650), elector and archbishop of Cologne, son of William
V., duke of Bavaria, was born on the 7th of October 1577. Intended for
the church, he was educated by the Jesuits at the university of
Ingolstadt, and in 1595 became coadjutor archbishop of Cologne. He
became elector and archbishop in 1612 on the death of his uncle Ernest,
whom he also succeeded as bishop of Liege, Munster and Hildesheim. He
endeavoured resolutely to root out heresy in the lands under his rule,
and favoured the teaching of the Jesuits in every possible way. He
supported the league founded by his brother Maximilian I., duke of
Bavaria, and wished to involve the leaguers in a general attack on the
Protestants of north Germany. The cool political sagacity of the duke
formed a sharp contrast to the impetuosity of the archbishop, and he
refused to accede to his brother's wish; but, in spite of these
temporary differences, Ferdinand sent troops and money to the assistance
of the league when the Thirty Years' War broke out in 1619. The
elector's alliance with the Spaniards secured his territories to a great
extent from the depredations of the war until the arrival of the Swedes
in Germany in 1630, when the extension of the area of the struggle to
the neighbourhood of Cologne induced him to enter into negotiations for
peace. Nothing came of these attempts until 1647, when he joined his
brother Maximilian in concluding an armistice with France and Sweden at
Ulm. The elector's later years were marked by a conflict with the
citizens of Liege; and when the peace of Westphalia freed him from his
enemies, he was able to crush the citizens and deprive them of many
privileges. Ferdinand, who had held the bishopric of Paderborn since
1618, died at Arnsberg on the 13th of September 1650, and was buried in
the cathedral at Cologne.
See L. Ennen, _Frankreich und der Niederrhein oder Geschichte von
Stadt und Kurstadt Koln seit dem 30 jahrigen Kriege_, Band i.
(Cologne, 1855-1856).
FERENTINO (anc. _Ferentinum_, to be distinguished from Ferentum or
Ferentinum in Etruria), a town and episcopal see of Italy, in the
province of Rome, from which it is 48 m. E.S.E. by rail. Pop. (1901)
7957 (town), 12,279 (commune). It is picturesquely situated on a hill
1290 ft. above sea-level, and still possesses considerable remains of
ancient fortifications. The lower portion of the outer walls, which
probably did not stand free, is built of roughly hewn blocks of a
limestone which naturally splits into horizontal layers; above this in
places is walling of rectangular blocks of tufa. Two gates, the Porta
Sanguinaria (with an arch with tufa voussoirs), and the Porta S. Maria,
a double gate constructed entirely of rectangular blocks of tufa, are
preserved. Outside this gate is the tomb of A. Quinctilius Priscus, a
citizen of Ferentinum, with a long inscription cut in the rock. See Th.
Mommsen in _Corp. Inscrip. Lat._ x. (Berlin, 1883), No. 5853.
The highest part of the town, the acropolis, is fortified also; it has
massive retaining walls similar to those of the lower town. At the
eastern corner, under the present episcopal palace, the construction is
somewhat more careful. A projecting rectangular terrace has been
erected, supported by walls of quadrilateral blocks of limestone
arranged almost horizontally; while upon the level thus formed a
building of rectangular blocks of local travertine was raised. The
projecting cornice of this building bears two inscriptions of the period
of Sulla, recording its construction by two censors (local officials);
and in the interior, which contains several chambers, there is an
inscription of the same censors over one of the doors, and another over
a smaller external side door. The windows lighting these chambers come
immediately above the cornice, and the wall continues above them again.
The whole of this construction probably belongs to one period (Mommsen,
_op. cit._ No. 5837 seq.). The cathedral occupies a part of the level
top of the ancient acropolis; it was reconstructed on the site of an
older church in 1099-1118; the interior was modernized in 1693, but was
restored to its original form in 1902. It contains a fine canopy in the
"Cosmatesque" style (see _Relazione dei lavori eseguiti dall' ufficio
tecnico per la conservazione dei monumenti di Rome a provincia_, Rome,
1903, 175 seq.). The Gothic church of S. Maria Maggiore, in the lower
town (13th-14th century), has a very fine exterior; the interior, the
plan of which is a perfect rectangle, has been spoilt by restoration.
There are several other Gothic churches in the town.
Ferentinum was the chief town of the Hernici; it was captured from them
by the Romans in 364 B.C. and took no part in the rising of 306 B.C. The
inhabitants became Roman citizens after 195 B.C., and the place later
became a _municipium_. It lay just above the Via Latina and, being a
strong place, served for the detention of hostages. Horace praises its
quietness, and it does not appear much in later history. (T. As.)
See further Ashby, _Rom. Mittell._ xxiv. (1909).
FERENTUM, or FERENTINUM, an ancient town of Etruria, about 6 m. N. of
Viterbo (the ancient name of which is unknown) and 3-1/2 m. E. of the
Via Cassia. It was the birthplace (32 A.D.) of the emperor Otho, was
destroyed in the 11th century, and is now entirely deserted, though it
retains its ancient name. It occupied a ridge running from east to west,
with deep ravines on three sides. There are some remains of the city
walls, and of various Roman structures, but the most important ruin is
that of the theatre. The stage front is still standing; it is pierced by
seven openings with flat arches, and shows traces of reconstruction. The
acropolis was on the hill called Talone on the north-east.
See G. Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_ (London, 1883), i.
156; _Notizie degli scavi_, 1900, 401; 1902, 84; 1905, 31.
FERETORY (from Lat. _feretrum_, a bier, from _ferre_, to bear), in
architecture, the enclosure or chapel within which the "fereter" shrine,
or tomb (as in Henry VII.'s chapel), was placed.
FERGHANA, or FERGANA, a province of Russian Turkestan, formed in 1876
out of the former khanate of Khokand. It is bounded by the provinces of
Syr-darya on the N. and N.W., Samarkand on the W., and Semiryechensk on
the N.E., by Chinese Turkestan (Kashgaria) on the E., and by Bokhara and
Afghanistan on the S. Its southern limits, on the Pamirs, were fixed by
an Anglo-Russian commission in 1885, from Zor-kul (Victoria Lake) to the
Chinese frontier; and Shignan, Roshan and Wakhan were assigned to
Bokhara in exchange for part of Darvaz (on the left bank of the Panj),
which was given to Afghanistan. The area amounts to some 53,000 sq. m.,
of which 17,600 sq. m. are on the Pamirs. The most important part of the
province is a rich and fertile valley (1200-1500 ft.), opening towards
the S.W. Thence the province stretches northwards across the mountains
of the Tian-shan system and southwards across the Alai and Trans-Alai
Mts., which reach their highest point in Peak Kaufmann (23,000 ft.), in
the latter range. The valley owes its fertility to two rivers, the Naryn
and the Karadarya, which unite within its confines, near Namangan, to
form the Syr-darya or Jaxartes. These streams, and their numerous
mountain affluents, not only supply water for irrigation, but also bring
down vast quantities of sand, which is deposited alongside their
courses, more especially alongside the Syr-darya where it cuts its way
through the Khojent-Ajar ridge, forming there the Karakchikum. This
expanse of moving sands, covering an area of 750 sq. m., under the
influence of south-west winds, encroaches upon the agricultural
districts. The climate of this valley is dry and warm. In March the
temperature reaches 68 deg. F., and then rapidly rises to 95 deg. in
June, July and August. During the five months following April no rain
falls, but it begins again in October. Snow and frost (down to -4 deg.
F.) occur in December and January.
Out of some 3,000,000 acres of cultivated land, about two-thirds are
under constant irrigation and the remaining third under partial
irrigation. The soil is admirably cultivated, the principal crops being
wheat, rice, barley, maize, millet, lucerne, tobacco, vegetables and
fruit. Gardening is conducted with a high degree of skill and success.
Large numbers of horses, cattle and sheep are kept, and a good many
camels are bred. Over 17,000 acres are planted with vines, and some
350,000 acres are under cotton. Nearly 1,000,000 acres are covered with
forests. The government maintains a forestry farm at Marghelan, from
which 120,000 to 200,000 young trees are distributed free every year
amongst the inhabitants of the province.
Silkworm breeding, formerly a prosperous industry, has decayed, despite
the encouragement of a state farm at New Marghelan. Coal, iron, sulphur,
gypsum, rock-salt, lacustrine salt and naphtha are all known to exist,
but only the last two are extracted. Some seventy or eighty factories
are engaged in cotton cleaning; while leather, saddlery, paper and
cutlery are the principal products of the domestic industries. A
considerable trade is carried on with Russia; raw cotton, raw silk,
tobacco, hides, sheepskins, fruit and cotton and leather goods are
exported, and manufactured wares, textiles, tea and sugar are imported
and in part re-exported to Kashgaria and Bokhara. The total trade of
Ferghana reaches an annual value of nearly L3,500,000. A new impulse was
given to trade by the extension (1899) of the Transcaspian railway into
Ferghana and by the opening of the Orenburg-Tashkent railway (1906). The
routes to Kashgaria and the Pamirs are mere bridle-paths over the
mountains, crossing them by lofty passes. For instance, the passes of
Kara-kazyk (14,400 ft.) and Tenghiz-bai (11,200 ft.), both passable all
the year round, lead from Marghelan to Kara-teghin and the Pamirs, while
Kashgar is reached via Osh and Gulcha, and then over the passes of
Terek-davan (12,205 ft.; open all the year round), Taldyk (11,500 ft.),
Archat (11,600 ft.), and Shart-davan (14,000 ft.). Other passes leading
out of the valley are the Jiptyk (12,460 ft.), S. of Khokand; the
Isfairam (12,000 ft.), leading to the glen of the Surkhab, and the Kavuk
(13,000 ft.), across the Alai Mts.
The population numbered 1,571,243 in 1897, and of that number 707,132
were women and 286,369 were urban. In 1906 it was estimated at
1,796,500. Two-thirds of the total are Sarts and Uzbegs (of Turkic
origin). They live mostly in the valley; while the mountain slopes above
it are occupied by Kirghiz, partly nomad and pastoral, partly
agricultural and settled. The other races are Tajiks, Kashgarians,
Kipchaks, Jews and Gypsies. The governing classes are of course
Russians, who constitute also the merchant and artizan classes. But the
merchants of West Turkestan are called all over central Asia Andijanis,
from the town of Andijan in Ferghana. The great mass of the population
are Mussulmans (1,039,115 in 1897). The province is divided into five
districts, the chief towns of which are New Marghelan, capital of the
province (8977 inhabitants in 1897), Andijan (49,682 in 1900), Khokand
(86,704 in 1900), Namangan (61,906 in 1897), and Osh (37,397 in 1900);
but Old Marghelan (42,855 in 1900) and Chust (13,686 in 1897) are also
towns of importance. For the history, see KHOKAND.
(P. A. K.; J. T. Be.)
FERGUS FALLS, a city and the county-seat of Otter Tail county,
Minnesota, U.S.A., on the Red river, 170 m. N.W. of Minneapolis. Pop.
(1890) 3772; (1900) 6072, of whom 2131 were foreign-born; (1905) 6692;
(1910) 6887. A large part of the population is of Scandinavian birth or
descent. Fergus Falls is served by the Great Northern and the Northern
Pacific railways. Situated in the celebrated "park region" of the state,
the city possesses great natural beauty, which has been enhanced by a
system of boulevards and well-kept private lawns. Lake Alice, in the
residential district, adds to the city's attractions. The city has a
public library, a county court house, St Luke's hospital, the G.B.
Wright memorial hospital, and a city hall. It is the seat of a state
hospital for the insane (1887) with about 1600 patients, of a business
college, of the Park Region Luther College (Norwegian Lutheran, 1892),
and of the North-western College (Swedish Lutheran; opened in 1901). It
has one of the finest water-powers in the state. Flour is the principal
product; among others are woollen goods, foundry and machine-shop
products, wooden ware, sash, doors and blinds, caskets, shirts, wagons
and packed meats. The city owns and operates its water-works and its
electric-lighting plant. Fergus Falls was settled about 1859 and was
incorporated in 1863.
FERGUSON, ADAM (1723-1816), Scottish philosopher and historian, was born
on the 20th of June 1723, at Logierait, Perthshire. He was educated at
Perth grammar school and the university of St Andrews. In 1745, owing to
his knowledge of Gaelic, he was appointed deputy chaplain of the 43rd
(afterwards the 42nd) regiment (the Black Watch), the licence to preach
being granted him by special dispensation, although he had not completed
the required six years of theological study. At the battle of Fontenoy
(1745) Ferguson fought in the ranks throughout the day, and refused to
leave the field, though ordered to do so by his colonel. He continued
attached to the regiment till 1754, when, disappointed at not obtaining
a living, he abandoned the clerical profession and resolved to devote
himself to literary pursuits. In January 1757 he succeeded David Hume as
librarian to the faculty of advocates, but soon relinquished this office
on becoming tutor in the family of Lord Bute.
In 1759 Ferguson was appointed professor of natural philosophy in the
university of Edinburgh, and in 1764 was transferred to the chair of
"pneumatics" (mental philosophy) "and moral philosophy." In 1767,
against Hume's advice, he published his _Essay on the History of Civil
Society_, which was well received and translated into several European
languages. In 1776 appeared his (anonymous) pamphlet on the American
revolution in opposition to Dr Price's _Observations on the Nature of
Civil Liberty_, in which he sympathized with the views of the British
legislature. In 1778 Ferguson was appointed secretary to the commission
which endeavoured, but without success, to negotiate an arrangement with
the revolted colonies. In 1783 appeared his _History of the Progress and
Termination of the Roman Republic_; it was very popular, and went
through several editions. Ferguson was led to undertake this work from a
conviction that the history of the Romans during the period of their
greatness was a practical illustration of those ethical and political
doctrines which were the object of his special study. The history is
written in an agreeable style and a spirit of impartiality, and gives
evidence of a conscientious use of authorities. The influence of the
author's military experience shows itself in certain portions of the
narrative. Finding himself unequal to the labour of teaching, he
resigned his professorship in 1785, and devoted himself to the revision
of his lectures, which he published (1792) under the title of
_Principles of Moral and Political Science_.
When in his seventieth year, Ferguson, intending to prepare a new
edition of the history, visited Italy and some of the principal cities
of Europe, where he was received with honour by learned societies. From
1795 he resided successively at the old castle of Neidpath near Peebles,
at Hallyards on Manor Water and at St Andrews, where he died on the 22nd
of February 1816.
In his ethical system Ferguson treats man throughout as a social being,
and illustrates his doctrines by political examples. As a believer in
the progression of the human race, he placed the principle of moral
approbation in the attainment of perfection. His speculations were
carefully criticized by Cousin (see his _Cours d'histoire de la
philosophie morale au dix-huitieme siecle_, pt. ii., 1839-1840):--"We
find in his method the wisdom and circumspection of the Scottish school,
with something more masculine and decisive in the results. The principle
of _perfection_ is a new one, at once more rational and comprehensive
than benevolence and sympathy, which in our view places Ferguson as a
moralist above all his predecessors." By this principle Ferguson
endeavours to reconcile all moral systems. With Hobbes and Hume he
admits the power of self-interest or utility, and makes it enter into
morals as the law of self-preservation. Hutcheson's theory of universal
benevolence and Smith's idea of sympathy he combines under the law of
society. But, as these laws are the means rather than the end of human
destiny, they are subordinate to a supreme end, and this supreme end is
perfection. In the political part of his system Ferguson follows
Montesquieu, and pleads the cause of well-regulated liberty and free
government. His contemporaries, with the exception of Hume, regarded his
writings as of great importance; in point of fact they are superficial.
The facility of their style and the frequent occurrence of would-be
weighty epigrams blinded his critics to the fact that, in spite of his
recognition of the importance of observation, he made no real
contribution to political theory (see Sir Leslie Stephen, _English
Thought in the Eighteenth Century_, x. 89-90).
The chief authority for Ferguson's life is the _Biographical Sketch_
by John Small (1864); see also _Public Characters_ (1799-1800);
_Gentleman's Magazine_, i. (1816 supp.); W.R. Chambers's _Biographical
Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen_; memoir by Principal Lee in early
editions of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_; J. McCosh, _The Scottish
Philosophy_ (1875); articles in _Dictionary of National Biography_ and
_Edinburgh Review_ (January 1867); Lord Henry Cockburn, _Memorials of
his Time_ (1856).
FERGUSON, JAMES (1710-1776), Scottish mechanician and astronomer, was
born near Rothiemay in Banffshire on the 25th of April 1710, of parents
in very humble circumstances. He first learned to read by overhearing
his father teach his elder brother, and with the help of an old woman
was "able," he says in his autobiography, "to read tolerably well before
his father thought of teaching him." After receiving further instruction
in reading from his father, who also taught him to write, he was sent at
the age of seven for three months to the grammar school at Keith. His
taste for mechanics was about this time accidentally awakened on seeing
his father making use of a lever to raise a part of the roof of his
house--an exhibition of seeming strength which at first "excited his
terror as well as wonder." In 1720 he was sent to a neighbouring farm to
keep sheep, where in the daytime he amused himself by making models of
mills and other machines, and at night in studying the stars.
Afterwards, as a servant with a miller, and then with a doctor, he met
with hardships which rendered his constitution feeble through life.
Being compelled by his weak health to return home, he there amused
himself with making a clock having wooden wheels and a whalebone spring.
When slightly recovered he showed this and some other inventions to a
neighbouring gentleman, who engaged him to clean his clocks, and also
desired him to make his house his home. He there began to draw patterns
for needlework, and his success in this art led him to think of becoming
a painter. In 1734 he went to Edinburgh, where he began to take
portraits in miniature, by which means, while engaged in his scientific
studies, he supported himself and his family for many years.
Subsequently he settled at Inverness, where he drew up his _Astronomical
Rotula_ for showing the motions of the planets, places of the sun and
moon, &c., and in 1743 went to London, which was his home for the rest
of his life. He wrote various papers for the Royal Society, of which he
became a fellow in 1763, devised astronomical and mechanical models, and
in 1748 began to give public lectures on experimental philosophy. These
he repeated in most of the principal towns in England. His deep interest
in his subject, his clear explanations, his ingeniously constructed
diagrams, and his mechanical apparatus rendered him one of the most
successful of popular lecturers on scientific subjects. It is, however,
as the inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific
apparatus, and as a striking instance of self-education, that he claims
a place among the most remarkable men of science of his country. During
the latter years of his life he was in receipt of a pension of L50 from
the privy purse. He died in London on the 17th of November 1776.
Ferguson's principal publications are _Astronomical Tables_ (1763);
_Lectures on Select Subjects_ (1st ed., 1761, edited by Sir David
Brewster in 1805); _Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's
Principles_ (1756, edited by Sir David Brewster in 1811); and _Select
Mechanical Exercises, with a Short Account of the Life of the Author,
written by himself_ (1773). This autobiography is included in a _Life_
by E. Henderson, LL.D. (1st ed., 1867; 2nd, 1870), which also contains
a full description of Ferguson's principal inventions, accompanied
with illustrations. See also _The Story of the Peasant-Boy
Philosopher_, by Henry Mayhew (1857).
FERGUSON, ROBERT (c. 1637-1714), British conspirator and pamphleteer,
called the "Plotter," was a son of William Ferguson (d. 1699) of
Badifurrow, Aberdeenshire, and after receiving a good education,
probably at the university of Aberdeen, became a Presbyterian minister.
According to Bishop Burnet he was cast out by the Presbyterians; but
whether this be so or not, he soon made his way to England and became
vicar of Godmersham, Kent, from which living he was expelled by the Act
of Uniformity in 1662. Some years later, having gained meanwhile a
reputation as a theological controversialist and become a person of
importance among the Nonconformists, he attracted the notice of the earl
of Shaftesbury and the party which favoured the exclusion of the duke of
York (afterwards King James II.) from the throne, and he began to write
political pamphlets just at the time when the feeling against the Roman
Catholics was at its height. In 1680 he wrote "A Letter to a Person of
Honour concerning the 'Black Box,'" in which he supported the claim of
the duke of Monmouth to the crown against that of the duke of York;
returning to the subject after Charles II. had solemnly denied the
existence of a marriage between himself and Lucy Waters. He took an
active part in the controversy over the Exclusion Bill, and claimed to
be the author of the whole of the pamphlet "No Protestant Plot" (1681),
parts of which are usually ascribed to Shaftesbury. Ferguson was deeply
implicated in the Rye House Plot, although he asserted that he had
frustrated both this and a subsequent attempt to assassinate the king,
and he fled to Holland with Shaftesbury in 1682, returning to England
early in 1683. For his share in another plot against Charles II. he was
declared an outlaw, after which he entered into communication with
Argyll, Monmouth and other malcontents. Ferguson then took a leading
part in organizing the rising of 1685. Having overcome Monmouth's
reluctance to take part in this movement, he accompanied the duke to the
west of England and drew up the manifesto against James II., escaping to
Holland after the battle of Sedgemoor. He landed in England with William
of Orange in 1688, and aided William's cause with his pen; but William
and his advisers did not regard him as a person of importance, although
his services were rewarded with a sinecure appointment in the Excise.
Chagrined at this treatment, Ferguson was soon in correspondence with
the exiled Jacobites. He shared in all the plots against the life of
William, and after his removal from the Excise in 1692 wrote violent
pamphlets against the government. Although he was several times arrested
on suspicion, he was never brought to trial. He died in great poverty in
1714, leaving behind him a great and deserved reputation for treachery.
It has been thought by Macaulay and others that Ferguson led the English
government to believe that he was a spy in their interests, and that his
frequent escapes from justice were due to official connivance. In a
proclamation issued for his arrest in 1683 he is described as "a tall
lean man, dark brown hair, a great Roman nose, thin-jawed, heat in his
face, speaks in the Scotch tone, a sharp piercing eye, stoops a little
in the shoulders." Besides numerous pamphlets Ferguson wrote: _History
of the Revolution_ (1706); _Qualifications requisite in a Minister of
State_ (1710); and part of the _History of all the Mobs, Tumults and
Insurrections in Great Britain_ (London, 1715).
See James Ferguson, _Robert Ferguson, the Plotter_ (Edinburgh, 1887),
which gives a favourable account of Ferguson.
FERGUSON, SIR SAMUEL (1810-1886), Irish poet and antiquary, was born at
Belfast, on the 10th of March 1810. He was educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, was called to the Irish bar in 1838, and was made Q.C. in 1859,
but in 1867 retired from practice upon his appointment as deputy-keeper
of the Irish records, then in a much neglected condition. He was an
excellent civil servant, and was knighted in 1878 for his services to
the department. His spare time was given to general literature, and in
particular to poetry. He had long been a leading contributor to the
_Dublin University Magazine_ and to _Blackwood_, where he had published
his two literary masterpieces, "The Forging of the Anchor," one of the
finest of modern ballads, and the humorous prose extravaganza of "Father
Tom and the Pope." He published _Lays of the Western Gael_ in 1865,
_Poems_ in 1880, and in 1872 _Congal_, a metrical narrative of the
heroic age of Ireland, and, though far from ideal perfection, perhaps
the most successful attempt yet made by a modern Irish poet to revivify
the spirit of the past in a poem of epic proportions. Lyrics have
succeeded better in other hands; many of Ferguson's pieces on modern
themes, notably his "Lament for Thomas Davis" (1845), are, nevertheless,
excellent. He was an extensive contributor on antiquarian subjects to
the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, and was elected its
president in 1882. His manners were delightful, and his hospitality was
boundless. He died at Howth on the 9th of August 1886. His most
important antiquarian work, _Ogham Inscriptions in Ireland, Wales,
Scotland_, was published in the year after his death.
See _Sir Samuel Ferguson in the Ireland of his Day_ (1896), by his
wife, Mary C. Ferguson; also an article by A.P. Graves in _A Treasury
of Irish Poetry in the English Tongue_ (1900), edited by Stopford
Brooke and T.W. Rolleston.
FERGUSSON, JAMES (1808-1886), Scottish writer on architecture, was born
at Ayr on the 22nd of January 1808. His father was an army surgeon.
After being educated first at the Edinburgh high school, and afterwards
at a private school at Hounslow, James went to Calcutta as partner in a
mercantile house. Here he was attracted by the remains of the ancient
architecture of India, little known or understood at that time. The
successful conduct of an indigo factory, as he states in his own
account, enabled him in about ten years to retire from business and
settle in London. The observations made on Indian architecture were
first embodied in his book on _The Rock-cut Temples of India_, published
in 1845. The task of analysing the historic and aesthetic relations of
this type of ancient buildings led him further to undertake a historical
and critical comparative survey of the whole subject of architecture in
_The Handbook of Architecture_, a work which first appeared in 1855.
This did not satisfy him, and the work was reissued ten years later in a
much more extended form under the title of _The History of
Architecture_. The chapters on Indian architecture, which had been
considered at rather disproportionate length in the _Handbook_, were
removed from the general _History_, and the whole of this subject
treated more fully in a separate volume, _The History of Indian and
Eastern Architecture_, which appeared in 1876, and, although complete in
itself, formed a kind of appendix to _The History of Architecture_.
Previously to this, in 1862, he issued his _History of Modern
Architecture_, in which the subject was continued from the Renaissance
to the present day, the period of "modern architecture" being
distinguished as that of revivals and imitations of ancient styles,
which began with the Renaissance. The essential difference between this
and the spontaneously evolved architecture of preceding ages Fergusson
was the first clearly to point out and characterize. His treatise on
_The True Principles of Beauty in Art_, an early publication, is a most
thoughtful metaphysical study. Some of his essays on special points in
archaeology, such as the treatise on _The Mode in which Light was
introduced into Greek Temples_, included theories which have not
received general acceptance. His real monument is his _History of
Architecture_ (later edition revised by R. Phene Spiers), which, for
grasp of the whole subject, comprehensiveness of plan, and thoughtful
critical analysis, stands quite alone in architectural literature. He
received the gold medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in
1871. Among his works, besides those already mentioned, are: _A Proposed
New System of Fortification_ (1849)_, Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis
restored_ (1851), _Mausoleum at Halicarnassus restored_ (1862), _Tree
and Serpent Worship_ (1868), _Rude Stone Monuments in all Countries_
(1872), and _The Temples of the Jews and the other Buildings in the
Haram Area at Jerusalem_ (1878). The sessional papers of the Institute
of British Architects include papers by him on _The History of the
Pointed Arch_, _Architecture of Southern India_, _Architectural
Splendour of the City of Beejapore_, _On the Erechtheum_ and on the
_Temple of Diana at Ephesus_.
Although Fergusson never practised architecture he took a keen interest
in all the professional work of his time. He was adviser with Austen
Layard in the scheme of decoration for the Assyrian court at the Crystal
Palace, and indeed assumed in 1856 the duties of general manager to the
Palace Company, a post which he held for two years. In 1847 Fergusson
had published an "Essay on the Ancient Topography of Jerusalem," in
which he had contended that the "Mosque of Omar" was the identical
church built by Constantine the Great over the tomb of our Lord at
Jerusalem, and that it, and not the present church of the Holy
Sepulchre, was the genuine burial-place of Jesus. The burden of this
contention was further explained by the publication in 1860 of his
_Notes on the Site of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem_; and _The Temples
of the Jews and the other Buildings in the Haram Area at Jerusalem_,
published in 1878, was a still completer elaboration of these theories,
which are said to have been the origin of the establishment of the
Palestine Exploration fund. His manifold activities continued till his
death, which took place in London on the 9th of January 1886.
FERGUSSON, ROBERT (1750-1774), Scottish poet, son of Sir William
Fergusson, a clerk in the British Linen Company, was born at Edinburgh
on the 5th of September 1750. Robert was educated at the grammar school
of Dundee, and at the university of St Andrews, where he matriculated in
1765. His father died while he was still at college; but a bursary
enabled him to complete his four years of study. He refused to study for
the church, and was too nervous to study medicine as his friends wished.
He quarrelled with his uncle, John Forbes of Round Lichnot,
Aberdeenshire, and went to Edinburgh, where he obtained employment as
copying clerk in a lawyer's office. In this humble occupation he passed
the remainder of his life. While at college he had written a clever
elegy on Dr David Gregory, and in 1771 he began to contribute verses
regularly to Ruddiman's _Weekly Magazine_. He was a member of the Cape
Club, celebrated by him in his poem of "Auld Reekie." "The Knights of
the Cape" assembled at a tavern in Craig's Close, in the vicinity of the
Cross; each member had a name and character assigned to him, which he
was required to maintain at all gatherings of the order. David Herd
(1732-1810), the collector of the classic edition of _Ancient and Modern
Scottish Songs_ (1776), was sovereign of the Cape (in which he was known
as "Sir Scrape") when Fergusson was dubbed a knight of the order, with
the title of "Sir Precentor," in allusion to his fine voice. Alexander
Runciman, the historical painter, his pupil Jacob More, and Sir Henry
Raeburn were all members. The old minute books of the club abound with
pencilled sketches by them, one of the most interesting of which,
ascribed to Runciman's pencil, is a sketch of Fergusson in his character
of "Sir Precentor."
Fergusson's gaiety and wit made him an entertaining companion, and he
indulged too freely in the convivial habits of the time. After a meeting
with John Brown of Haddington he became, however, very serious, and
would read nothing but his Bible. A fall by which his head was severely
injured aggravated symptoms of mental aberration which had begun to show
themselves; and after about two months' confinement in the old Darien
House--then the only public asylum in Edinburgh--the poet died on the
16th of October 1774.
Fergusson's poems were collected in the year before his death. The
influence of his writings on Robert Burns is undoubted. His "Leith
Races" unquestionably supplied the model for the "Holy Fair." Not only
is the stanza the same, but the Mirth who plays the part of conductor to
Fergusson, and the Fun who renders a like service to Burns, are
manifestly conceived on the same model. "The Mutual Complaint of
Plainstanes and Causey" probably suggested "The Brigs of Ayr"; "On
seeing a Butterfly in the Street" has reflections in it which strikingly
correspond with "To a Mouse"; nor will a comparison of "The Farmer's
Ingle" of the elder poet with "The Cottar's Saturday Night" admit of a
doubt as to the influence of the city-bred poet's muse on that exquisite
picturing of homely peasant life. Burns was himself the first to render
a generous tribute to the merits of Fergusson; on his visit to Edinburgh
in 1787 he sought out the poet's grave, and petitioned the authorities
of the Canongate burying-ground for permission to erect the memorial
stone which is preserved in the existing monument. The date there
assigned for his birth differs from the one given above, which rests on
the authority of his younger sister Margaret.
The first edition of Fergusson's poems was published by Ruddiman at
Edinburgh in 1773, and a supplement containing additional poems, in
1779. A second edition appeared in 1785. There are later editions, by
Robert Chambers (1850) and Dr A.B. Grosart (1851). A life of Fergusson
is included in Dr David Irving's _Lives of the Scottish Poets_, and in
Robert Chambers's Lives of _Illustrious and Distinguished Scotsmen_.
FERGUSSON, SIR WILLIAM, Bart. (1808-1877), British surgeon, the son of
James Fergusson of Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire, was born at Prestonpans,
East Lothian, on the 20th of March 1808. After receiving his early
education at Lochmaben and the high school of Edinburgh, he entered the
university of Edinburgh with the view of studying law, but soon
afterwards abandoned his intention and became a pupil of the anatomist
Robert Knox (1791-1862) whose demonstrator he was appointed at the age
of twenty. In 1836 he succeeded Robert Liston as surgeon to the
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and coming to London in 1840 as professor of
surgery in King's College, and surgeon to King's College Hospital, he
acquired a commanding position among the surgeons of the metropolis. He
revived the operation for cleft-palate, which for many years had fallen
into disrepute, and invented a special mouth-gag for the same. He also
devised many other surgical instruments, chief among which, and still in
use to-day, are his bone forceps, lion forceps and vaginal speculum. In
1866 he was created a baronet. He died in London on the 10th of February
1877. As a surgeon Fergusson's greatest merit is that of having
introduced the practice of "conservative surgery," by which he meant the
excision of a joint rather than the amputation of a limb. He made his
diagnosis with almost intuitive certainty; as an operator he was
characterized by self-possession in the most critical circumstances, by
minute attention to details and by great refinement of touch, and he
relied more on his mechanical dexterity than on complicated instruments.
He was the author of _The Progress of Anatomy and Surgery in the
Nineteenth Century_ (1867), and of a _System of Practical Surgery_
(1842), which went through several editions.
FERINGHI, or FERINGHEE, a Frank (Persian, _Farangi_). This term for a
European is very old in Asia, and was originally used in a purely
geographical sense, but now generally carries a hostile or contemptuous
significance. The combatants on either side during the Indian Mutiny
called each other Feringhies and Pandies.
FERISHTA, MAHOMMED KASIM (c. 1570-c. 1611), Persian historian, was born
at Astrabad, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. While he was still a
child his father was summoned away from his native country into
Hindostan, where he held high office in the Deccan; and by his influence
the young Ferishta received court promotion. In 1589 Ferishta removed to
Bijapur, where he spent the remainder of his life under the immediate
protection of the shah Ibrahim Adil II., who engaged him to write a
history of India. At the court of this monarch he died about 1611. In
the introduction to his work a _resume_ is given of the history of
Hindostan prior to the times of the Mahommedan conquest, and also of the
victorious progress of the Arabs through the East. The first ten books
are each occupied with a history of the kings of one of the provinces;
the eleventh book gives an account of the Mussulmans of Malabar; the
twelfth a history of the Mussulman saints of India; and the conclusion
treats of the geography and climate of India. Ferishta is reputed one of
the most trustworthy of the Oriental historians, and his work still
maintains a high place as an authority. Several portions of it have been
translated into English; but the best as well as the most complete
translation is that published by General J. Briggs under the title of
_The History of the Rise of the Mahometan Power in India_ (London, 1829,
4 vols. 8vo). Several additions were made by Briggs to the original work
of Ferishta, but he omitted the whole of the twelfth book, and various
other passages which had been omitted in the copy from which he
translated.
FERMANAGH, a county of Ireland, in the province of Ulster, bounded N.W.
by Donegal, N.E. by Tyrone, E. by Monaghan and S.W. by Cavan and
Leitrim. The area is 457,369 acres or about 715 sq. m. The county is
situated mostly in the basin of the Erne, which divides the county into
two nearly equal sections. Its surface is hilly, and its appearance (in
many parts) somewhat sterile, though in the main, and especially in the
neighbourhood of Lough Erne, it is picturesque and attractive. The
climate, though moist, is healthy, and the people are generally tall and
robust. The chief mountains are Cuilcagh (2188 ft.), partly in Leitrim
and Cavan, Belmore (1312), Glenkeel (1223), North Shean (1135), Tappahan
(1110), Carnmore (1034). Tossett or Toppid and Turaw mountains command
extensive prospects, and form striking features in the scenery of the
county. But the most distinguishing features of Fermanagh are the Upper
and Lower Loughs Erne, which occupy a great extent of its surface,
stretching for about 45 m. from S.E. to N.W. These lakes are expansions
of the river Erne, which enters the county from Cavan at Wattle Bridge.
It passes Belturbet, the Loughs Erne, Enniskillen and Belleek, on its
way to the Atlantic, into which it descends at Ballyshannon. At Belleek
it forms a considerable waterfall and is here well known to sportsmen
for its good salmon fishing. Trout are taken in most of the loughs, and
pike of great size in the Loughs Erne. There are several mineral springs
in the county, some of them chalybeate, others sulphurous. At Belcoo,
near Enniskillen, there is a famous well called Daragh Phadric, held in
repute by the peasantry for its cure of paralytic and other diseases;
and 4 m. N.W. of the same town, at a place called "the Daughton," are
natural caves of considerable size.
This county includes in the north an area of the gneiss that is
discussed under county Donegal, and, west of Omagh, a metamorphic region
that stretches in from the central axis of Tyrone. A fault divides the
latter from the mass of red-brown Old Red Sandstone that spreads south
nearly to Enniskillen. Lower Carboniferous sandstone and limestone occur
on the north of Lower Lough Erne. The limestone forms fine scarps on the
southern side of the lake, capped by beds regarded as the Yoredale
series. The scenery about the two Loughs Macnean is carved out in
similarly scarped hills, rising to 2188 ft. in Cuilcagh on the south.
The "Marble Arch" cave near Florence-court, with its emerging river, is
a characteristic example of the subterranean waterways in the limestone.
Upper Lough Erne is a typical meandering lake of the limestone lowland,
with outliers of higher Carboniferous strata forming highlands
north-east and south-west of it.
With the exception of the pottery works at Belleek, where iridescent
ware of good quality is produced, Fermanagh has no distinguishing
manufactures. It is chiefly an agricultural county. The proportion of
tillage to pasture is roughly as 1 to 2-1/2. Cattle and poultry are the
principal classes of live stock. Oats and potatoes are the crops most
extensively cultivated. The north-western division of the Great Northern
railway passes through the most populous portion of the county, one
branch connecting Enniskillen with Clones, another connecting
Enniskillen with Londonderry via Omagh, and a third connecting Bundoran
Junction with Bundoran, in county Donegal. The Sligo, Leitrim & Northern
Counties railway connects with the Great Northern at Enniskillen, and
the Clogher Valley light railway connects southern county Tyrone with
the Great Northern at Maguiresbridge.
The population (74,170 in 1891; 65,430 in 1901; almost wholly rural)
shows a decrease among the most serious of the county populations of
Ireland. It includes 55% of Roman Catholics and about 35% of Protestant
Episcopalians. Enniskillen (the county town, pop. 5412) is the only town
of importance, the rest being little more than villages. The principal
are Lisnaskea, Irvinestown (formerly Lowtherstown), Maguiresbridge,
Tempo, Newtownbutler, Belleek, Derrygonnelly and Kesh, at which fairs
are held. Garrison, a fishing station on the wild Lough Melvin, and
Pettigo, near to the lower Lough Erne, are market villages. Fermanagh
returns two members to parliament, one each for the north and south
divisions. It comprises eight baronies and nineteen civil parishes. The
assizes are held at Enniskillen, quarter sessions at Enniskillen and
Newtownbutler. The headquarters of the constabulary are at Enniskillen.
Ecclesiastically it belongs to the Protestant and Roman Catholic
dioceses of Clogher and Kilmore.
By the ancient Irish the district was called _Feor-magh-Eanagh_, or the
"country of the lakes" (lit. "the mountain-valley marsh district"); and
also Magh-uire, or "the country of the waters." A large portion was
occupied by the _Guarii_, the ancestors of the MacGuires or Maguires, a
name still common in the district. This family was so influential that
for centuries the county was called after it Maguire's Country, and one
of the towns still existing bears its name, Maguiresbridge. Fermanagh
was formed into a county on the shiring of Ulster in 1585 by Sir John
Perrot, and was included in the well-known scheme of colonization of
James I., the Plantation of Ulster. In 1689 battles were fought between
William III.'s army and the Irish under Macarthy (for James II.),
Lisnaskea (26th July) and Newtownbutler (30th July). The chief place of
interest to the antiquary is Devenish Island in Lough Erne, about 2-1/2
m. N.W. from Enniskillen (q.v.), with its ruined abbey, round tower and
cross. In various places throughout the county may be seen the ruins of
several ancient castles, Danish raths or encampments, and tumuli, in the
last of which urns and stone coffins have sometimes been found. The
round tower on Devenish Island is one of the finest examples in the
country.
FERMAT, PIERRE DE (1601-1665), French mathematician, was born on the
17th of August 1601, at Beaumont-de-Lomagne near Montauban. While still
young, he, along with Blaise Pascal, made some discoveries in regard to
the properties of numbers, on which he afterwards built his method of
calculating probabilities. He discovered a simpler method of quadrating
parabolas than that of Archimedes, and a method of finding the greatest
and the smallest ordinates of curved lines analogous to that of the then
unknown differential calculus. His great work _De maximis et minimis_
brought him into conflict with Rene Descartes, but the dispute was
chiefly due to a want of explicitness in the statement of Fermat (see
INFINITESIMAL CALCULUS). His brilliant researches in the theory of
numbers entitle him to rank as the founder of the modern theory. They
originally took the form of marginal notes in a copy of Bachet's
_Diophantus_, and were published in 1670 by his son Samuel, who
incorporated them in a new edition of this Greek writer. Other theorems
were published in his _Opera Varia_, and in John Wallis's _Commercium
epistolicum_ (1658). He died in the belief that he had found a relation
which every prime number must satisfy, namely 2^2n + 1 = a prime. This
was afterwards disproved by Leonhard Euler for the case when n = 5.
_Fermat's Theorem_, if p is prime and a is prime to p then a^(p-1) - 1
is divisible by p, was first given in a letter of 1640. _Fermat's
Problem_ is that x^n + y^n = z^n is impossible for integral values of x,
y and z when n is greater than 2.
Fermat was for some time councillor for the parliament of Toulouse, and
in the discharge of the duties of that office he was distinguished both
for legal knowledge and for strict integrity of conduct. Though the
sciences were the principal objects of his private studies, he was also
an accomplished general scholar and an excellent linguist. He died at
Toulouse on the 12th of January 1665. He left a son, Samuel de Fermat
(1630-1690) who published translations of several Greek authors and
wrote certain books on law in addition to editing his father's works.
The _Opera mathematica_ of Fermat were published at Toulouse, in 2
vols. folio, 1670 and 1679. The first contains the "Arithmetic of
Diophantus," with notes and additions. The second includes a "Method
for the Quadrature of Parabolas," and a treatise "on Maxima and
Minima, on Tangents, and on Centres of Gravity," containing the same
solutions of a variety of problems as were afterwards incorporated
into the more extensive method of fluxions by Newton and Leibnitz. In
the same volume are treatises on "Geometric Loci, or Spherical
Tangencies," and on the "Rectification of Curves," besides a
restoration of "Apollonius's Plane Loci," together with the author's
correspondence addressed to Descartes, Pascal, Roberval, Huygens and
others. The _Oeuvres_ of Fermat have been re-edited by P. Tannery and
C. Henry (Paris, 1891-1894).
See Paul Tannery, "Sur la date des principales decouvertes de Fermat,"
in the _Bulletin Darboux_ (1883); and "Les Manuscrits de Fermat," in
the _Annales de la faculte des lettres de Bordeaux_.
FERMENTATION. The process of fermentation in the preparation of wine,
vinegar, beer and bread was known and practised in prehistoric times.
The alchemists used the terms fermentation, digestion and putrefaction
indiscriminately; any reaction in which chemical energy was displayed in
some form or other--such, for instance, as the effervescence occasioned
by the addition of an acid to an alkaline solution--was described as a
fermentation (Lat. _fervere_, to boil); and the idea of the
"Philosopher's Stone" setting up a fermentation in the common metals and
developing the essence or germ, which should transmute them into silver
or gold, further complicated the conception of fermentation. As an
outcome of this alchemical doctrine the process of fermentation was
supposed to have a purifying and elevating effect on the bodies which
had been submitted to its influence. Basil Valentine wrote that when
yeast was added to wort "an internal inflammation is communicated to the
liquid, so that it raises in itself, and thus the segregation and
separation of the feculent from the clear takes place." Johann Becher,
in 1669, first found that alcohol was formed during the fermentation of
solutions of sugar; he distinguished also between fermentation and
putrefaction. In 1697 Georg Stahl admitted that fermentation and
putrefaction were analogous processes, but that the former was a
particular case of the latter.
The beginning of definite knowledge on the phenomenon of fermentation
may be dated from the time of Antony Leeuwenhoek, who in 1680 designed a
microscope sufficiently powerful to render yeast cells and bacteria
visible; and a description of these organisms, accompanied by diagrams,
was sent to the Royal Society of London. This investigator just missed a
great discovery, for he did not consider the spherical forms to be
living organisms but compared them with starch granules. It was not
until 1803 that L.J. Thenard stated that yeast was the cause of
fermentation, and held it to be of an animal nature, since it contained
nitrogen and yielded ammonia on distillation, nor was it conclusively
proved that the yeast cell was the originator of fermentation until the
researches of C. Cagniard de la Tour, T. Schwann and F. Kutzing from
1836 to 1839 settled the point. These investigators regarded yeast as a
plant, and Meyer gave to the germs the systematic name of
"Saccharomyces" (sugar fungus). In 1839-1840 J. von Liebig attacked the
doctrine that fermentation was caused by micro-organisms, and enunciated
his theory of mechanical decomposition. He held that every fermentation
consisted of molecular motion which is transmitted from a substance in a
state of chemical motion--that is, of decomposition--to other
substances, the elements of which are loosely held together. It is clear
from Liebig's publications that he first regarded yeast as a lifeless,
albuminoid mass; but, although later he considered they were living
cells, he would never admit that fermentation was a physiological
process, the chemical aspect being paramount in the mind of this
distinguished investigator.
In 1857 Pasteur decisively proved that fermentation was a physiological
process, for he showed that the yeast which produced fermentation was no
dead mass, as assumed by Liebig, but consisted of living organisms
capable of growth and multiplication. His own words are: "The chemical
action of fermentation is essentially a correlative phenomenon of a
vital act, beginning and ending with it. I think that there is never any
alcoholic fermentation without there being at the same time
organization, development and multiplication of globules, or the
continued consecutive life of globules already formed." Fermentation,
according to Pasteur, was caused by the growth and multiplication of
unicellular organisms out of contact with free oxygen, under which
circumstance they acquire the power of taking oxygen from chemical
compounds in the medium in which they are growing. In other words
"fermentation is life without air, or life without oxygen." This theory
of fermentation was materially modified in 1892 and 1894 by A.J. Brown,
who described experiments which were in disagreement with Pasteur's
dictum. A.J. Brown writes: "If for the theory 'life without air' is
substituted the consideration that yeast cells can use oxygen in the
manner of ordinary aerobic fungi, and probably do require it for the
full completion of their life-history, but that the exhibition of their
fermentative functions is independent of their environment with regard
to free oxygen, it will be found that there is nothing contradictory in
Pasteur's experiments to such a hypothesis."
Liebig and Pasteur were in agreement on the point that fermentation is
intimately connected with the presence of yeast in the fermenting
liquid, but their explanations concerning the mechanism of fermentation
were quite opposed. According to M. Traube (1858), the active cause of
fermentation is due to the action of different enzymes contained in
yeast and not to the yeast cell itself. As will be seen later this
theory was confirmed by subsequent researches of E. Fischer and E.
Buchner.
In 1879 C. Nageli formulated his well-known molecular-physical theory,
which supported Liebig's chemical theory on the one hand and Pasteur's
physiological hypothesis on the other: "Fermentation is the
transference of the condition of motion of the molecules, atomic groups
and atoms of the various compounds constituting the living plasma, to
the fermenting material, in consequence of which equilibrium in the
molecules of the latter is destroyed, the result being their
disintegration." He agreed with Pasteur that the presence of living
cells is essential to the transformation of sugar into alcohol, but
dissented from the view that the process occurs within the cell. This
investigator held that the decomposition of the sugar molecules takes
place outside the cell wall. In 1894 and 1895, Fischer, in a remarkable
series of papers on the influence of molecular structure upon the action
of the enzyme, showed that various species of yeast behave very
differently towards solutions of sugars. For example, some species
hydrolyse cane sugar and maltose, and then carry on fermentation at the
expense of the simple sugars (hexoses) so formed. _Saccharomyces
Marxianus_ will not hydrolyse maltose, but it does attack cane sugar and
ferment the products of hydrolysis. Fischer next suggested that enzymes
can only hydrolyse those sugars which possess a molecular structure in
harmony with their own, or to use his ingenious analogy, "the one may be
said to fit into the other as a key fits into a lock." The preference
exhibited by yeast cells for sugar molecules is shared by mould fungi
and soluble enzymes in their fermentative actions. Thus, Pasteur showed
that _Penicillium glaucum_, when grown in an aqueous solution of
ammonium racemate, decomposed the dextro-tartrate, leaving the
laevo-tartrate, and the solution which was originally inactive to
polarized light became dextro-rotatory. Fischer found that the enzyme
"invertase," which is present in yeast, attacks methyl-_d_-glucoside but
not methyl-_l_-glucoside.
In 1897 Buchner submitted yeast to great pressure, and isolated a
nitrogenous substance, enzymic in character, which he termed "zymase."
This body is being continually formed in the yeast cell, and decomposes
the sugar which has diffused into the cell. The freshly-expressed yeast
juice causes concentrated solutions of cane sugar, glucose, laevulose
and maltose to ferment with the production of alcohol and carbon
dioxide, but not milk-sugar and mannose. In this respect the plasma
behaves in a similar manner towards the sugars as does the living yeast
cell. Pasteur found that, when cane sugar was fermented by yeast, 49.4%
of carbonic acid and 51.1% of alcohol were produced; with expressed
yeast juice cane sugar yields 47% of carbonic acid and 47.7% of alcohol.
According to Buchner the fermentative activity of yeast-cell juice is
not due to the presence of living yeast cells, or to the action of
living yeast protoplasm, but it is caused by a soluble enzyme. A.
Macfadyen, G.H. Morris and S. Rowland, in repeating Buchner's
experiments, found that zymase possessed properties differing from all
other enzymes, thus: dilution with twice its volume of water practically
destroys the fermentative power of the yeast juice. These investigators
considered that differences of this nature cannot be explained by the
theory that it is a soluble enzyme, which brings about the alcoholic
fermentation of sugar. The remarkable discoveries of Fischer and Buchner
to a great extent confirm Traube's views, and reconcile Liebig's and
Pasteur's theories. Although the action of zymase may be regarded as
mechanical, the enzyme cannot be produced by any other than living
protoplasm.
Pasteur's important researches mark an epoch in the technical aspect of
fermentation. His investigations on vinegar-making revolutionized that
industry, and he showed how, instead of waiting two or three months for
the elaboration of the process, the vinegar could be made in eight or
ten days by exposing the vats containing the mixture of wine and vinegar
to a temperature of 20 deg. to 25 deg. C., and sowing with a small
quantity of the acetic organism. To the study of the life-history of the
butyric and acetic organisms we owe the terms "anaerobic" and "aerobic."
His researches from 1860 and onwards on the then vexed question of
spontaneous generation proved that, in all cases where spontaneous
generation appeared to have taken place, some defect or other was in the
experiment. Although the direct object of Pasteur was to prove a
negative, yet it was on these experiments that sterilization as known
to us was developed. It is only necessary to bear in mind the great part
played by sterilization in the laboratory, and pasteurization on the
fermentation industries and in the preservation of food materials.
Pasteur first formulated the idea that bacteria are responsible for the
diseases of fermented liquids; the corollary of this was a demand for
pure yeast. He recommended that yeast should be purified by cultivating
it in a solution of sugar containing tartaric acid, or, in wort
containing a small quantity of phenol. It was not recognized that many
of the diseases of fermented liquids are occasioned by foreign yeasts;
moreover, this process, as was shown later by Hansen, favours the
development of foreign yeasts at the expense of the good yeast.
About this time Hansen, who had long been engaged in researches on the
biology of the fungi of fermentation, demonstrated that yeast free from
bacteria could nevertheless occasion diseases in beer. This discovery
was of great importance to the zymo-technical industries, for it showed
that bacteria are not the only undesirable organisms which may occur in
yeast. Hansen set himself the task of studying the properties of the
varieties of yeast, and to do this he had to cultivate each variety in a
pure state. Having found that some of the commonest diseases of beer,
such as yeast turbidity and the objectionable changes in flavour, were
caused not by bacteria but by certain species of yeast, and, further,
that different species of good brewery yeast would produce beers of
different character, Hansen argued that the pitching yeast should
consist only of a single species--namely, that best suited to the
brewery in question. These views met with considerable opposition, but
in 1890 Professor E. Duclaux stated that the yeast question as regards
low fermentation has been solved by Hansen's investigations. He
emphasized the opinion that yeast derived from one cell was of no good
for top fermentation, and advocated Pasteur's method of purification.
But in the course of time, notwithstanding many criticisms and
objections, the reform spread from bottom fermentation to top
fermentation breweries on the continent and in America. In the United
Kingdom the employment of brewery yeasts selected from a single cell has
not come into general use; it may probably be accounted for in a great
measure by conservatism and the wrong application of Hansen's theories.
_Pure Cultivation of Yeasts._--The methods which were first adopted by
Hansen for obtaining pure cultures of yeast were similar in principle to
one devised by J. Lister for isolating a pure culture of lactic acid
bacterium. Lister determined the number of bacteria present in a drop of
the liquid under examination by counting, and then diluted this with a
sufficient quantity of sterilized water so that each drop of the mixture
should contain, on an average, less than one bacterium. A number of
flasks containing a nutrient medium were each inoculated with one drop
of this mixture; it was found that some remained sterile, and Lister
assumed that the remaining flasks each contained a pure culture. This
method did not give very certain results, for it could not be guaranteed
that the growth in the inoculated flask was necessarily derived from a
single bacterium. Hansen counted the number of yeast cells suspended in
a drop of liquid diluted with sterilized water. A volume of the diluted
yeast was introduced into flasks containing sterilized wort, the degree
of dilution being such that only a small proportion of the flasks became
infected. The flasks were then well shaken, and the yeast cell or cells
settled to the bottom, and gave rise to a separate yeast speck. Only
those cultures which contained a single yeast speck were assumed to be
pure cultivations. By this method several races of _Saccharomycetes_ and
brewery yeasts were isolated and described.
The next important advance was the substitution of solid for liquid
media; due originally to Schroter. R. Koch subsequently improved the
method. He introduced bacteria into liquid sterile nutrient gelatin.
After being well shaken, the liquid was poured into a sterile glass
Petrie dish and covered with a moist and sterile bell-jar. It was
assumed that each separate speck contained a pure culture. Hansen
pointed out that this was by no means the case, for it is more
difficult to separate the cells from each other in the gelatin than in
the liquid. To obtain an absolutely pure culture with certainty it is
necessary, even when the gelatin method is employed, to start from a
single cell. To effect this some of the nutrient gelatin containing
yeast cells is placed on the under-surface of the cover-glass of the
moist chamber. Those cells are accurately marked, the position of which
is such that the colonies, to which they give rise, can grow to their
full size without coming into contact with other colonies. The growth of
the marked cells is kept under observation for three or four days, by
which time the colonies will be large enough to be taken out of the
chamber and placed in flasks. The contents of the flasks can then be
introduced into larger flasks, and finally into an apparatus suitable
for making enough yeast for technical purposes. Such, in brief, are the
methods devised by that brilliant investigator Hansen; and these methods
have not only been the basis on which our modern knowledge of the
_Saccharomycetes_ is founded, but are the only means of attack which the
present-day observer has at his disposal.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the term fermentation has now a
much wider significance than when it was applied to such changes as the
decomposition of must or wort with the production of carbon dioxide and
alcohol. Fermentation now includes all changes in organic compounds
brought about by ferments elaborated in the living animal or vegetable
cell. There are two distinct types of fermentation: (1) those brought
about by living organisms (organized ferments), and (2) those brought
about by non-living or unorganized ferments (enzymes). The first class
include such changes as the alcoholic fermentation of sugar solutions,
the acetic acid fermentation of alcohol, the lactic acid fermentation of
milk sugar, and the putrefaction of animal and vegetable nitrogenous
matter. The second class include all changes brought about by the agency
of enzymes, such as the action of diastase on starch, invertase on cane
sugar, glucase on maltose, &c. The actions are essentially hydrolytic.
_Biological Aspect of Yeast._--The Saccharomycetes belong to that
division of the Thallophyta called the Hyphomycetes or Fungi (q.v.). Two
great divisions are recognized in the Fungi: (i.) the _Phycomycetes_ or
Algal Fungi, which retain a definitely sexual method of reproduction as
well as asexual (vegetative) methods, and (ii.) the _Mycomycetes_,
characterized by extremely reduced or very doubtful sexual reproduction.
The Mycomycetes may be divided as follows: (A) forms bearing both
sporangia and conidia (see FUNGI), (B) forms bearing conidia only, e.g.
the common mushroom. Division A comprises (a) the true _Ascomycetes_, of
which the moulds Eurotium and Penicillium are examples, and (b) the
_Hemiasci_, which includes the yeasts. The gradual disappearance of the
sexual method of reproduction, as we pass upwards in the fungi from the
points of their departure from the Algae, is an important fact, the last
traces of sexuality apparently disappearing in the ascomycetes.
With certain rare exceptions the Saccharomycetes have three methods of
asexual reproduction:--
1. The most common.--The formation of _buds_ which separate to form new
cells. A portion of the nucleus of the parent cell makes its way through
the extremely narrow neck into the daughter cell. This method obtains
when yeast is vigorously fermenting a saccharine solution.
2. A division by _fission_ followed by Endogenous spore formation,
characteristic of the Schizosaccharomycetes. Some species show
fermentative power.
3. _Endospore_ formation, the conditions for which are as follows: (1)
suitable temperature, (2) presence of air, (3) presence of moisture, (4)
young and vigorous cells, (5) a food supply in the case of one species
at least is necessary, and is in no case prejudicial. In some cases a
sexual act would appear to precede spore formation. In most cases four
spores are formed within the cell by free formation. These may readily
be seen after appropriate staining.
In some of the true Ascomycetes, such as _Penicillium glaucum_, the
conidia if grown in saccharine solutions, which they have the power of
fermenting, develop single cell yeast-like forms, and do not--at any
rate for a time--produce again the characteristic branching mycelium.
This is known as the _Torula_ condition. It is supposed by some that
Saccharomyces is a very degraded Ascomycete, in which the Torula
condition has become fixed.
The yeast plant and its allies are saprophytes and form no chlorophyll.
Their extreme reduction in form and loss of sexuality may be correlated
with the saprophytic habit, the proteids and other organic material
required for the growth and reproduction being appropriated ready
synthesized, the plant having entirely lost the power of forming them
for itself, as evidenced by the absence of chlorophyll. The beer yeast
_S. cerevisiae_, is never found wild, but the wine yeasts occur
abundantly in the soil of vineyards, and so are always present on the
fruit, ready to ferment the expressed juice.
_Chemical Aspect of Alcoholic Fermentation._--Lavoisier was the first
investigator to study fermentation from a quantitative standpoint. He
determined the percentages of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the sugar
and in the products of fermentation, and concluded that sugar in
fermenting breaks up into alcohol, carbonic acid and acetic acid. The
elementary composition of sugar and alcohol was fixed in 1815 by
analyses made by Gay-Lussac, Thenard and de Saussure. The
first-mentioned chemist proposed the following formula to represent the
change which takes place when sugar is fermented:--
C6H12O6 = 2CO2 + 2C2H6O.
Sugar. Carbon dioxide. Alcohol.
This formula substantially holds good to the present day, although a
number of definite bodies other than carbon dioxide and alcohol occur in
small and varying quantities, according to the conditions of the
fermentation and the medium fermented. Prominent among these are
glycerin and succinic acid. In this connexion Pasteur showed that 100
parts of cane sugar on inversion gave 105.4 parts of invert sugar,
which, when fermented, yielded 51.1 parts alcohol, 49.4 carbonic acid,
0.7 succinic acid, 3.2 glycerin and 1.0 unestimated. A. Bechamp and E.
Duclaux found that acetic acid is formed in small quantities during
fermentation; aldehyde has also been detected. The higher alcohols such
as propyl, isobutyl, amyl, capryl, oenanthyl and caproyl, have been
identified; and the amount of these vary according to the different
conditions of the fermentation. A number of esters are also produced.
The characteristic flavour and odour of wines and spirits is dependent
on the proportion of higher alcohols, aldehydes and esters which may be
produced.
Certain yeasts exercise a reducing action, forming sulphuretted
hydrogen, when sulphur is present. The "stinking fermentations"
occasionally experienced in breweries probably arise from this, the free
sulphur being derived from the hops. Other yeasts are stated to form
sulphurous acid in must and wort. Another fact of considerable technical
importance is, that the various races of yeast show considerable
differences in the amount and proportion of fermentation products other
than ethyl alcohol and carbonic acid which they produce. From these
remarks it will be clear that to employ the most suitable kind of yeast
for a given alcoholic fermentation is of fundamental importance in
certain industries. It is beyond the scope of the present article to
attempt to describe the different forms of budding fungi
(Saccharomyces), mould fungi and bacteria which are capable of
fermenting sugar solutions. Thus, six species isolated by Hansen,
_Saccharomyces cerevisiae_, _S. Pasteurianus_ I.,[1] II., III., and _S.
ellipsoideus_, contained invertase and maltase, and can invert and
subsequently ferment cane sugar and maltose. _S. exiguus_ and _S.
Ludwigii_ contain only invertase and not maltase, and therefore ferment
cane sugar but not maltose. _S. apiculatus_ (a common wine yeast)
contains neither of these enzymes, and only ferments solutions of
glucose or laevulose.
Previously to Hansen's work the only way of differentiating yeasts was
by studying morphological differences with the aid of the microscope.
Max Reess distinguished the species according to the appearance of the
cells thus, the ellipsoidal cells were designated _Saccharomyces
ellipsoideus_, the sausage-shaped _Saccharomyces Pasteurianus_, and so
on. It was found by Hansen that the same species of yeast can assume
different shapes; and it therefore became necessary to determine how the
different varieties of yeast could be distinguished with certainty. The
formation of spores in yeast (first discovered by T. Schwann in 1839)
was studied by Hansen, who found that each species only developed spores
between certain definite temperatures. The time taken for spore
formation varies greatly; thus, at 52 deg. F., _S. cerevisiae_ takes 10,
_S. Pasteurianus_ I. and II. about 4, _S. Pasteurianus_ III. about 7,
and _S. ellipsoideus_ about 4-1/2 days. The formation of spores is used
as an analytical method for determining whether a yeast is contaminated
with another species,--for example: a sample of yeast is placed on a
gypsum or porcelain block saturated with water; if in ten days at a
temperature of 52 deg. F. no spores make their appearance, the yeast in
question may be regarded as _S. cerevisiae_, and not associated with _S.
Pasteurianus_ or _S. ellipsoideus_.
The formation of films on fermented liquids is a well-known phenomenon
and common to all micro-organisms. A free still surface with a direct
access of air are the necessary conditions. Hansen showed that the
microscopic appearance of film cells of the same species of
Saccharomycetes varies according to the temperature of growth; the
limiting temperatures of film formation, as well as the time of its
appearance for the different species, also vary.
In the zymo-technical industries the various species of yeast exhibit
different actions during fermentations. A well-known instance of this is
the "top" and "bottom" brewery fermentations (see BREWING). In a top
fermentation--typical of English breweries--the yeast rises, in a bottom
fermentation, as the phrase implies, it settles in the vessel. Sometimes
a bottom yeast may for a time exhibit signs of a top fermentation. It
has not, however, been possible to transform a typical top yeast into a
permanent typical bottom yeast. There appear to be no true distinctive
characteristics for these two types. Their selection for a particular
purpose depends upon some special quality which they possess; thus for
brewing certain essentials are demanded as regards stability,
clarification, taste and smell; whereas, in distilleries, the production
of alcohol and a high multiplying power in the yeast are required.
Culture yeasts have also been successfully employed in the manufacture
of wine and cider. By the judicious selection of a type of yeast it is
possible to improve the bouquet, and from an inferior must obtain a
better wine or cider than would otherwise be produced.
Certain acid fermentations are of common occurrence. The _Bacterium
acidi lacti_ described by Pasteur decomposes milk sugar into lactic
acid. _Bacillus amylobacter_ usually accompanies the lactic acid
organism, and decomposes lactic and other higher acids with formation of
butyric acid. Moulds have been isolated which occasion the formation of
citric acid from glucose. The production of acetic acid from alcohol has
received much attention at the hands of investigators, and it has an
important technical aspect in the manufacture of vinegar. The phenomenon
of nitrification (see BACTERIOLOGY, AGRICULTURE and MANURE), i.e. the
formation of nitrites and nitrates from ammonia and its compounds in the
soil, was formerly held to be a purely chemical process, until
Schloesing and Muntz suggested in 1877 that it was biological. It is now
known that the action takes place in two stages; the ammonium salt is
first oxidized to the nitrite stage and subsequently to the nitrate.
(J. L. B.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Hansen found there were three species of spore-bearing
Saccharomycetes and that these could be subdivided into varieties.
Thus, _S. cerevisiae_ I., _S. cerevisiae_ II., _S. Pasteurianus_ I.,
&c.
FERMO (anc. _Firmum Picenum_), a town and archiepiscopal see of the
Marches, Italy, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, on a hill with a fine
view, 1046 ft. above sea-level, on a branch from Porto S. Giorgio on the
Adriatic coast railway. Pop. (1901) town, 16,577, commune 20,542. The
summit of the hill was occupied by the citadel until 1446. It is crowned
by the cathedral, reconstructed in 1227 by Giorgio da Como; the fine
facade and campanile of this period still remain, and the side portal
is good; the beautiful rose-window over the main door dates from 1348.
In the porch are several good tombs, including one of 1366 by Tura da
Imola, and also the modern monument of Giuseppe Colucci, a famous writer
on the antiquities of Picenum. The interior has been modernized. The
building is now surrounded by a garden, with a splendid view. Against
the side of the hill was built the Roman theatre; scanty traces of an
amphitheatre also exist. Remains of the city wall, of rectangular blocks
of hard limestone, may be seen just outside the Porta S. Francesco;
whether the walling under the Casa Porti belongs to them is doubtful.
The medieval battlemented walls superposed on it are picturesque. The
church of S. Francesco has a good tower and choir in brickwork of 1240,
the rest having been restored in the 17th century. Under the Dominican
monastery is a very large Roman reservoir in two storeys, belonging to
the imperial period, divided into many chambers, at least 24 on each
level, each 30 by 20 ft., for filtration (see G. de Minicis in _Annali
dell' Istituto_, 1846, p. 46; 1858, p. 125). The piazza contains the
Palazzo Comunale, restored in 1446, with a statue of Pope Sixtus V. in
front of it. The Biblioteca Comunale contains a collection of
inscriptions and antiquities. Porto S. Giorgio has a fine castle of
1269, blocking the valley which leads to Fermo.
The ancient Firmum Picenum was founded as a Latin colony in 264 B.C.,
after the conquest of the Picentes, as the local headquarters of the
Roman power, to which it remained faithful. It was originally governed
by five quaestors. It was made a colony with full rights after the
battle of Philippi, the 4th legion being settled there. It lay at the
junction of roads to Pausulae, Urbs Salvia and Asculum, being connected
with the coast road by a short branch road from Castellum Firmanum
(Porto S. Giorgio). In the 10th century it became the capital of the
_Marchia Firmana_. In 1199 it became a free city, and remained
independent until 1550, when it became subject to the papacy.
(T. As.)
FERMOY, a market town in the east riding of Co. Cork, Ireland, in the
north-east parliamentary division, 21 m. by road N.E. of Cork, and 14 m.
E. of Mallow by a branch of the Great Southern & Western railway. Pop.
of urban district (1901) 6126. It is situated on the river Blackwater,
which divides the town into two parts, the larger of which is on the
southern bank, and there the trade of the town, which is chiefly in
flour and agricultural produce, is mainly carried on. The town has
several good streets and some noteworthy buildings. Of the latter, the
most prominent are the military barracks on the north bank of the river,
the Protestant church, the Roman Catholic cathedral and St Colman's
Roman Catholic college. Fermoy rose to importance only at the beginning
of the 19th century, owing entirely to the devotion of John Anderson, a
citizen, on becoming landlord. The town is a centre for salmon and trout
fishing on the Blackwater and its tributary the Funshion. The
neighbouring scenery is attractive, especially in the Glen of Araglin,
once famed for its ironworks.
FERN (from O. Eng. _fearn_, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf.
Dutch _varen_, and Ger. _Farn_; the Indo-European root, seen in the
Sanskrit _parna_, a feather, shows the primary meaning; cf. Gr. [Greek:
pteron], feather, [Greek: pteris], fern), a name often used to denote
the whole botanical class of Pteridophytes, including both the true
ferns, Filicales, by far the largest group of this class in the existing
flora, and the fern-like plants, Equisetales, Sphenophyllales,
Lycopodiales (see PTERIDOPHYTA).
FERNANDEZ, ALVARO, one of the leading Portuguese explorers of the
earlier 15th century, the age of Henry the Navigator. He was brought up
(as a page or esquire) in the household of Prince Henry, and while still
"young and audacious" took an important part in the discovery of
"Guinea." He was a nephew of Joao Goncalvez Zarco, who had rediscovered
the Madeira group in Henry's service (1418-1420), and had become
part-governor of Madeira and commander of Funchal; when the great
expedition of 1445 sailed for West Africa he was entrusted by his uncle
with a specially fine caravel, under particular injunctions to devote
himself to discovery, the most cherished object of his princely master,
so constantly thwarted. Fernandez, as a pioneer, outstripped all other
servants of the prince at this time. After visiting the mouth of the
Senegal, rounding Cape Verde, and landing in Goree (?), he pushed on to
the "Cape of Masts" (Cabo dos Matos, or Mastos, so called from its tall
spindle-palms), probably between Cape Verde and the Gambia, the most
southerly point till then attained. Next year (1446) he returned, and
coasted on much farther, to a bay one hundred and ten leagues "south"
(i.e. S.S.E.) of Cape Verde, perhaps in the neighbourhood of Konakry and
the Los Islands, and but little short of Sierra Leone. This record was
not broken till 1461, when Sierra Leone was sighted and named. A wound,
received from a poisoned arrow in an encounter with natives, now
compelled Fernandez to return to Portugal, where he was received with
distinguished honour and reward by Prince Henry and the regent of the
kingdom, Henry's brother Pedro.
See Gomes Eannes de Azurara, _Chronica de ... Guine_, chs. lxxv.,
lxxxvii.; Joao de Barros, _Asia_, Decade I., bk. i. chs. xiii., xiv.
FERNANDEZ, DIEGO, a Spanish adventurer and historian of the 16th
century. Born at Palencia, he was educated for the church, but about
1545 he embarked for Peru, where he served in the royal army under
Alonzo de Alvarado. Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, marquess of Canete, who
became viceroy of Peru in 1655, bestowed on Fernandez the office of
chronicler of Peru; and in this capacity he wrote a narrative of the
insurrection of Francisco Hernandez Giron, of the rebellion of Gonzalo
Pizarro, and of the administration of Pedro de la Gasca. The whole work,
under the title _Primera y segunda parte de la Historia del Piru_, was
published at Seville in 1571 and was dedicated to King Philip II. It is
written in a clear and intelligible style, and with more art than is
usual in the compositions of the time. It gives copious details, and, as
he had access to the correspondence and official documents of the
Spanish leaders, it is, although necessarily possessing bias, the
fullest and most authentic record existing of the events it relates.
A notice of the work will be found in W.H. Prescott's _History of the
Conquest of Peru_ (new ed., London, 1902).
FERNANDEZ, JOHN (_Joao_, _Joam_), Portuguese traveller of the 15th
century. He was perhaps the earliest of modern explorers in the upland
of West Africa, and a pioneer of the European slave- and gold-trade of
Guinea. We first hear of him (before 1445) as a captive of the Barbary
Moors in the western Mediterranean; while among these he acquired a
knowledge of Arabic, and probably conceived the design of exploration in
the interior of the continent whose coasts the Portuguese were now
unveiling. In 1445 he volunteered to stay in Guinea and gather what
information he could for Prince Henry the Navigator; with this object he
accompanied Antam Goncalvez to the "River of Gold" (Rio d'Ouro, Rio de
Oro) in 23 deg. 40' N., where he landed and went inland with some native
shepherds. He stayed seven months in the country, which lay just within
Moslem Africa, slightly north of Pagan Negroland (W. Sudan); he was
taken off again by Antam Goncalvez at a point farther down the coast,
near the "Cape of Ransom" (Cape Mirik), in 19 deg. 22' 14"; and his
account of his experiences proved of great interest and value, not only
as to the natural features, climate, fauna and flora of the
south-western Sahara, but also as to the racial affinities, language,
script, religion, nomad habits, and trade of its inhabitants. These
people--though Mahommedans, maintaining a certain trade in slaves, gold,
&c., with the Barbary coast (especially with Tunis), and classed as
"Arabs," "Berbers," and "Tawny Moors"--did not then write or speak
Arabic. In 1446 and 1447 John Fernandez accompanied other expeditions to
the Rio d'Ouro and other parts of West Africa in the service of Prince
Henry. He was personally known to Gomes Eannes de Azurara, the historian
of this early period of Portuguese expansion; and from Azurara's
language it is clear that Fernandez' revelation of unknown lands and
races was fully appreciated at home.
See Azurara, _Chronica de ... Guine_, chs. xxix., xxxii., xxxiv.,
xxxv., lxxvii., lxxviii., xc., xci., xciii.
FERNANDEZ, JUAN (fl. c. 1570), Spanish navigator and discoverer. While
navigating the coasts of South America it occurred to him that the south
winds constantly prevailing near the shore, and retarding voyages
between Peru and Chile, might not exist farther out at sea. His idea
proved correct, and by the help of the trade winds and some currents at
a distance from the coast he sailed with such rapidity (thirty days)
from Callao to Chile that he was apprehended on a charge of sorcery. His
inquisitors, however, accepted his natural explanation of the marvel.
During one of his voyages in 1563 (from Lima to Valdivia) Fernandez
discovered the islands which now bear his name. He was so enchanted with
their beauty and fertility that he solicited the concession of them from
the Spanish government. It was granted in 1572, but a colony which he
endeavoured to establish at the largest of them (Isla Mas-a-Tierra) soon
broke up, leaving behind the goats, whose progeny were hunted by
Alexander Selkirk. In 1574 Fernandez discovered St Felix and St Ambrose
islands (in 27 deg. S., 82 deg. 7' W.); and in 1576, while voyaging in
the southern ocean, he is said to have sighted not only Easter Island,
but also a continent, which was probably Australia or New Zealand if the
story (rejected by most critics, but with reservations as to Easter
Island) is to be accepted.
See J.L. Arias, _Memoir recommending to the king the conversion of the
new discovered islands_ (in Spanish, 1609; Eng. trans., 1773); Ulloa,
_Relacion del Viaje_, bk. ii. ch. iv.; Alexander Dalrymple, _An
Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the
South Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1769-1771); Freville, _Voyages de la Mer
du Sud par les Espagnols_.
FERNANDEZ, LUCAS, Spanish dramatist, was born at Salamanca about the
middle of the 15th century. Nothing is known of his life, and he is
represented by a single volume of plays, _Farsas y eglogas al modo y
estilo pastoril_ (1514). In his secular pieces--a _comedia_ and two
_farsas_--he introduces few personages, employs the simplest possible
action, and burlesques the language of the uneducated class; the secular
and devout elements are skilfully intermingled in his two _Farsas del
nascimiento de Nuestro Senor Jesucristo_. But the best of his dramatic
essays is the _Auto de la Pasion_, a devout play intended to be given on
Maundy Thursday. It is written in the manner of Encina, with less
spontaneity, but with a sombre force to which Encina scarcely attained.
Fernandez' plays were reprinted by the Spanish Academy in 1867.
FERNANDINA, a city, a port of entry, and the county-seat of Nassau
county, Florida, U.S.A., a winter and summer resort, in the N.E. part of
the state, 36 m. N.E. of Jacksonville, on Amelia Island (about 22 m.
long and from 1/2 m. to 1-1/2 m. wide), which is separated from the
mainland by an arm of the sea, known as Amelia river and bay. Pop.
(1900) 3245; (1905, state census), 4959 (2957 negroes); (1910) 3482.
Fernandina is served by the Seaboard Air Line railway, and by steamship
lines connecting with domestic and foreign ports; its harbour, which has
the deepest water on the E. coast of Florida, opens on the N. to
Cumberland Sound, which was improved by the Federal government,
beginning in 1879, reducing freight rates at Fernandina by 25 to 40%.
Under an act of 1907 the channel of Fernandina harbour, 1300 ft. wide at
the entrance and about 2 m. long, was dredged to a depth of 20 to 24 ft.
at mean low water with a width of 400 to 600 ft. The "inside"
water-route between Savannah, Georgia and Fernandina is improved by the
Federal government (1892 sqq.) and has a 7-ft. channel. The principal
places of interest are "Amelia Beach," more than 20 m. long and 200 ft.
wide, connected with the city by a compact shell road nearly 2 m. long
and by electric line; the Amelia Island lighthouse, in the N. end of the
island, established in 1836 and rebuilt in 1880; Fort Clinch, at the
entrance to the harbour; Cumberland Island, in Georgia, N. of Amelia
Island, where land was granted to General Nathanael Greene after the War
of American Independence by the state of Georgia; and Dungeness, the
estate of the Carnegie family. Ocean City, on Amelia Beach, is a popular
pleasure resort. The principal industries are the manufacture of lumber,
cotton, palmetto fibres, and cigars, the canning of oysters, and the
building and repair of railway cars. The foreign exports, chiefly
lumber, railway ties, cotton, phosphate rock, and naval stores, were
valued at $9,346,704 in 1907; and the imports in 1907 at $116,514.
The harbour of Fernandina was known to the early explorers of Florida,
and it was here that Dominic de Gourgues landed when he made his
expedition against the Spanish at San Mateo in 1568. An Indian mission
was established by Spanish priests later in the same century, but it was
not successful. When Georgia was founded, General James Oglethorpe
placed a military guard on Amelia Island to prevent sudden attack upon
his colony by the Spanish, and the first blood shed in the petty warfare
between Georgia and Florida was the murder of two unarmed members of the
guard by a troop of Spanish soldiers and Indians in 1739. The first
permanent settlement was made by the Spanish in 1808, at what is now the
village of Old Fernandina, about 1 m. from the city. The island was a
centre for smuggling during the period of the embargo and
non-importation acts preceding the war of 1812. This was the pretext for
General George Matthews (1738-1812) to gather a band of adventurers at
St Mary's, Georgia, invade the island, and capture Fernandina in 1812.
In the following year the American forces were withdrawn. In 1817 Gregor
MacGregor, a filibuster who had aided the Spanish provinces of South
America in their revolt against Spain, fitted out an expedition in
Baltimore and seized Fernandina, but departed soon after. Later in the
same year Louis Aury, another adventurer, appeared with a small force
from Texas, and took possession of the place in the name of the Republic
of Mexico. In the following year Aury was expelled by United States
troops, who held Fernandina in trust for Spain until Florida was finally
ceded to the United States in 1821. Fernandina was first incorporated in
1859. In 1861 Fort Clinch was seized by the Confederates, and Fernandina
harbour was a centre of blockade running in the first two years of the
Civil War. In 1862 the place was captured by a Federal naval force from
Port Royal, South Carolina, commanded by Commodore S.F. Du Pont.
FERNANDO DE NORONHA [_Fernao de N._], an island in the South Atlantic,
125 m. from the coast of Brazil, to which country it belongs, in 3 deg.
50' S., 32 deg. 25' W. It is about 7 m. long and 1-1/2 wide, and some
other islets lie adjacent to it. Its surface is rugged, and it contains
a number of rocky hills from 500 to 700 ft. high, and one peak towering
to the height of 1089 ft. It is formed of basalt, trachyte and
phonolite, and the soil is very fertile. The climate is healthy. It is
defended by forts, and serves as a place of banishment for criminals
from Brazil. The next largest island of the group is about a mile in
circumference, and the others are small barren rocks. The population is
about 2000, all males, including some 1400 criminals, and a garrison of
150. Communication is maintained by steamer with Pernambuco. The island
takes name from its Portuguese discoverer (1503), the count of Noronha.
FERNANDO PO, or FERNANDO POO, a Spanish island on the west coast of
Africa, in the Bight of Biafra, about 20 m. from the mainland, in 3 deg.
12' N. and 8 deg. 48' E. It is of volcanic origin, related to the
Cameroon system of the adjacent mainland, is the largest island in the
Gulf of Guinea, is 44 m. long from N.N.E. to S.S.W., about 20 m. broad,
and has an area of about 780 sq. m. Fernando Po is noted for its
beautiful aspect, seeming from a short distance to be a single mountain
rising from the sea, its sides covered with luxuriant vegetation. The
shores are steep and rocky and the coast plain narrow. This plain is
succeeded by the slopes of the mountains which occupy the rest of the
island and culminate in the magnificent cone of Clarence Peak or Pico de
Santa Isabel (native name Owassa). Clarence Peak, about 10,000 ft.
high,[1] is in the north-central part of the island. In the south Musolo
Mt. attains a height of 7400 ft. There are numerous other peaks between
4000 and 6000 ft. high. The mountains contain craters and crater lakes,
and are covered, most of them to their summits, with forests. Down the
narrow intervening valleys rush torrential streams which have cut deep
beds through the coast plains. The trees most characteristic of the
forest are oil palms and tree ferns, but there are many varieties,
including ebony, mahogany and the African oak. The undergrowth is very
dense; it includes the sugar-cane and cotton and indigo plants. The
fauna includes antelopes, monkeys, lemurs, the civet cat, porcupine,
pythons and green tree-snakes, crocodiles and turtles. The climate is
very unhealthy in the lower districts, where malarial fever is common.
The mean temperature on the coast is 78 deg. Fahr. and varies little,
but in the higher altitudes there is considerable daily variation. The
rainfall is very heavy except during November-January, which is
considered the dry season.
The inhabitants number about 25,000. In addition to about 500 Europeans,
mostly Spaniards and Cubans, they are of two classes, the Bubis or Bube
(formerly also called Ediya), who occupy the interior, and the coast
dwellers, a mixed Negro race, largely descended from slave ancestors
with an admixture of Portuguese and Spanish blood, and known to the
Bubis as "Portos"--a corruption of Portuguese. The Bubis are of Bantu
stock and early immigrants from the mainland. Physically they are a
finely developed race, extremely jealous of their independence and
unwilling to take service of any kind with Europeans. They go unclothed,
smearing their bodies with a kind of pomatum. They stick pieces of wood
in the lobes of their ears, wear numerous armlets made of ivory, beads
or grass, and always wear hats, generally made of palm leaves. Their
weapons are mainly of wood; stone axes and knives were in use as late as
1858. They have no knowledge of working iron. Their villages are built
in the densest parts of the forest, and care is taken to conceal the
approach to them. The Bubis are sportsmen and fishermen rather than
agriculturists. The staple foods of the islanders generally are millet,
rice, yams and bananas. Alcohol is distilled from the sugar-cane. The
natives possess numbers of sheep, goats and fowls.
The principal settlement is Port Clarence (pop. 1500), called by the
Spaniards Santa Isabel, a safe and commodious harbour on the north
coast. In its graveyard are buried Richard Lander and several other
explorers of West Africa. Port Clarence is unhealthy, and the seat of
government has been removed to Basile, a small town 5 m. from Port
Clarence and over 1000 ft. above the sea. On the west coast are the bay
and port of San Carlos, on the east coast Concepcion Bay and town. The
chief industry until the close of the 19th century was the collection of
palm-oil, but the Spaniards have since developed plantations of cocoa,
coffee, sugar, tobacco, vanilla and other tropical plants. The kola nut
is also cultivated. The cocoa plantations are of most importance. The
amount of cocoa exported in 1905 was 1800 tons, being 370 tons above the
average export for the preceding five years. The total value of the
trade of the island (1900-1905) was about L250,000 a year.
_History._--The island was discovered towards the close of the 15th
century by a Portuguese navigator called Fernao do Po, who, struck by
its beauty, named it Formosa, but it soon came to be called by the name
of its discoverer.[2] A Portuguese colony was established in the island,
which together with Annobon was ceded to Spain in 1778. The first
attempts of Spain to develop the island ended disastrously, and in 1827,
with the consent of Spain, the administration of the island was taken
over by Great Britain, the British "superintendent" having a Spanish
commission as governor. By the British Fernando Po was used as a naval
station for the ships engaged in the suppression of the slave trade. The
British headquarters were named Port Clarence and the adjacent
promontory Cape William, in honour of the duke of Clarence (William
IV.). In 1844 the Spaniards reclaimed the island, refusing to sell their
rights to Great Britain. They did no more at that time, however, than
hoist the Spanish flag, appointing a British resident, John Beecroft,
governor. Beecroft, who was made British consul in 1849, died in 1854.
During the British occupation a considerable number of Sierra Leonians,
West Indians and freed slaves settled in the island, and English became
and remains the common speech of the coast peoples. In 1858 a Spanish
governor was sent out, and the Baptist missionaries who had laboured in
the island since 1843 were compelled to withdraw. They settled in Ambas
Bay on the neighbouring mainland (see CAMEROON). The Jesuits who
succeeded the Baptists were also expelled, but mission and educational
work is now carried on by other Roman Catholic agencies, and (since
1870) by the Primitive Methodists. In 1879 the Spanish government
recalled its officials, but a few years later, when the partition of
Africa was being effected, they were replaced and a number of Cuban
political prisoners were deported thither. Very little was done to
develop the resources of the island until after the loss of the Spanish
colonies in the West Indies and the Pacific, when Spain turned her
attention to her African possessions. Stimulated by the success of the
Portuguese cocoa plantations in the neighbouring island of St Thomas,
the Spaniards started similar plantations, with some measure o
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