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Alfonso I of Naples, Alfonso II of Naples, Duke of Calabria, Ferdinand I of Naples, Isabella of Taranto, Pope Eugene IV, Pope Nicholas V, René of Anjou-Valois, Treaty of Lodi
From the Emperor’s Desk: Not to be confused with Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.
King Ferdinand I of Naples (June 2, 1424 – January 25, 1494), was the only son, illegitimate, of King Alfonso I of Naples. He was king of Naples from 1458 to 1494.
His mother, Gueraldona Carlino, was probably a woman of Neapolitan origin who in December 1423 had accompanied Alfonso on his return to Spain, where she later married a certain Gaspar Reverdit of Barcelona.
In order to ensure a good future for his illegitimate son, his father Alfonso had called him to Naples. At the behest of the king, on July 26, 1438 the governor de Corella, the bishop Borgia and the young Ferdinand, with their entourage of young Catalan gentlemen, set sail from Barcelona for Italy. Alfonso’s purpose was to prepare his only son, albeit illegitimate, for the role of heir to the kingdom he was conquering. The whole company landed in Gaeta on August 19, where Ferdinand was reunited with his father, whom he hardly knew.
A strong emotional bond soon developed between father and son, as Alfonso appreciated the young man’s acute intelligence and courage, while Ferrante showed complete reverence for his parent. Alfonso on September 9, 1438 created Ferdinand a knight on the Maddaloni field where René of Anjou-Valois, challenged to battle, did not appear.
In Naples he had as teachers Valla, Panormita, Borgia and Gabriele Altilio, who taught him for many years. He also had as tutor Paris de Puteo who taught him law. When the Sacro regio consiglio, judicial authority of the kingdom, was established by Alfonso, he was assigned the position of president.
Following the death of his uncle Peter, in April 1439 Ferdinand was appointed lieutenant general of the kingdom. On February 17, 1440, King Alfonso, by his own authority, legitimized and declared his son his heir to the throne of Naples and then, in January 1441, he secured the approval of the parliament of the barons of the kingdom that he had summoned in Benevento and which was then transferred to Naples.
Still in parliament, Alfonso, worried about the succession, promoted a petition, in which the barons, knowing they were doing the king a great pleasure, proposed to establish Ferdinand as his future successor, with the title of Duke of Calabria, usually given to the first-born of the king of Naples.
The recognition of the rights of succession Ferdinand was sealed by the Papal bull Regnans in altissimis issued by Pope Eugene IV in July 1443, and later confirmed in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V.
In 1444 Ferdinand married the heiress Isabella of Taranto, daughter of Tristan of Clermont and Catherine of Taranto, designated heir of Prince Giovanni Antonio Orsini Del Balzo of Taranto, his maternal uncle, who had no children. Isabella was also the niece of Queen Mary of Enghien who, having married Ladislaus I of Anjou, had therefore been queen of Naples, Sicily and the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1406 to 1414.
Ferdinand was solemnly crowned on February 4, 1459, in the Cathedral of Barletta and to thank the Pope Pius II, in 1461, he wanted Maria, his natural daughter, to marry Antonio Piccolomini nephew of Pius, giving her as a dowry the Duchy of Amalfi, the county of Celano and the office of Great executioner for her husband. The problems, however, were not over yet, in fact Ferdinand’s rival, Jean of Anjou, aspired to regain the throne of Naples, lost by his father in the war against Alfonso.
As King, Ferdinand was one of the most influential and feared monarchs in Europe at the time and an important figure of the Italian Renaissance. In his thirty years of reign he brought peace and prosperity to Naples.
Its foreign and diplomatic policy aimed at assuming the task of regulating the events of the peninsula in order not to disturb the political balance given by the Treaty of Lodi, to affirm the hegemony of the Kingdom of Naples over the other Italian states and to tighten through its diplomats and marriages of his numerous legitimate and natural children, a dense network of alliances and relationships with Italian and foreign sovereigns, earned him the fame and the nickname of Judge of Italy, in addition to being recognized as a generous patron.
Ferdinand I was succeeded on the Neapolitan throne by his eldest son the Duke of Calabria as King Alfonso II (November 14, 1448 – December 18, 1495) and ruled as King of Naples from January 25, 1494 to January 23, 1495. He was a soldier and a patron of Renaissance architecture and the arts.