Note 42 — Chapter I · —How the King of France cajoled the English after the Duke of Burgundy’s Death, for fear they should have interrupted him in the Conquest of the Territories belonging to the said Duke.—1477.

Ferdinand I., King of Naples, succeeded to the throne on the death of his father in 1458. His claim was contested by John of Anjou, supported by many of the chief barons of the kingdom; but Ferdinand subdued them, and reigned for thirty years, after the discomfiture of his competitor, with success and ability. His character was, however, dark and vindictive, and his government was marked by a degree of ill-faith as well as tyranny towards his subjects that rendered him deservedly odious. He died in 1494.