Ferdinand II of Aragon (Aragonese: Ferrando; Catalan: Ferran; Basque: Errando; Spanish: Fernando; Italian: Ferdinando; 1452 – 1516) was the King of Aragon, Sicily, Naples, Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre. As the husband to Isabella I, he was King of Castile through marriage. After her death, he continued to serve as regent in Castile on behalf of their daughter Joanna for much of the rest of his life.
Biography[]
Reconquista[]
In 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella, seeking further religious unity, requested permission from the Pope to establish an inquisition. Pope Sixtus IV permitted them to appoint priests as inquisitors.[1]
By 1491, members of both the Assassin and Templar Orders had infiltrated Ferdinand and Isabella's close circle in an attempt to obtain influence over the royal house. Ferdinand's own finance minister, Luis de Santángel, was a member of the Spanish Brotherhood, as was Isabella's treasurer Raphael Sánchez.[2]
The following year, Ferdinand and his wife bore witness to the public execution of heretics in Seville, during which the Spanish Mentor Benedicto was burned at the stake by Tomás de Torquemada. However, the two other Assassins, Aguilar de Nerha and María, managed to escape their predicament, leading Ferdinand and his wife to quickly flee the scene.[3]
Italian Wars[]
In 1503, Ferdinand hired Bartolomeo d'Alviano to help the Spanish Army defeat the French forces in the Kingdom of Naples.[4] In 1504, Ferdinand and Isabella made an arrangement with Pope Julius II to have Cesare Borgia locked up inside the Castillo de la Mota near Valencia.[5]
Unbeknownst to both Ferdinand and Isabella, the Assassins had secretly been poisoning the latter after Luis de Santángel uncovered her ties to the Borgia. Due to Luis' death in 1498,[6][7] a team of Italian Assassins sent from Rome completed his mission and enlisted the help of one of Isabella's servants to administer a lethal dose of poison, resulting in the queen's death in November 1504.[8][9] The next year, Ferdinand seized power of the Kingdom of Naples in the name of Spain.[10]
In 1507, Ferdinand waged war with John III of Navarre to conquer the lands of Navarre. During the Siege of Viana, John III gave command over his forces to his brother-in-law Cesare Borgia, who had escaped from the Castillo de la Mota in the previous year. Ezio Auditore da Firenze, the Mentor of the Italian Assassins, killed Cesare during the battle, greatly aiding Ferdinand's forces, although the Navarrese still won a pyrrhic victory.[5]
Intending to curb the Venetian influence in northern Italy, Ferdinand joined fellow monarchs Louis XII of France and Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I in the League of Cambrai created by Pope Julius II. The League was initially a success as an anti-Venetian alliance, but the friction between Julius and Louis caused it to collapse by 1510.[11]
When Ezio Auditore went on his pilgrimage to Masyaf in 1511 seeking the Library of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ferdinand allowed Ezio safe passage through the southern territories of Italy that he controlled to return the favor of killing Cesare Borgia.[12]
That same year, the Templars planned to assassinate Ferdinand, believing that his death would divide the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. The Assassins foiled the plot,[13] and eradicated the leaders of the Templar network in Madrid to remove any future threat against the king.[14]
Legacy[]
In 2012, Ferdinand was one of many historical people included in the Glyph puzzles the late Assassin Clay Kaczmarek had left behind in the Animus as messages for his successor Desmond Miles to decipher. Desmond did so in September of that year.[15] Desmond solved this puzzle, which was part of a set titled "Instruments of Power", where Ferdinand was excluded from a list of individuals revealed by Clay to have wielded Staves of Eden.[16] Later that year, Ferdinand was also included in a mnemonic set in Abstergo Industries' Project Legacy.[17]
Behind the scenes[]
Ferdinand II is a historical figure first mentioned in the 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II: Discovery and pictured in the Glyph puzzles in Assassin's Creed II. After being mentioned in several other installments of the series, he made his first physical appearance in the 2016 film Assassin's Creed, portrayed by Thomas Camilleri.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed II (Glyphs only)
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (Mnemonic set only)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel (mentioned only)
- Assassin's Creed: Recollection (indirect mention only)
- Assassin's Creed: Identity (mentioned in Database entry only)
- Assassin's Creed film (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization
- Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned only)
References[]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed DNA – Timeline: 1478
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II: Discovery – Survive the Ambush
- ↑ Assassin's Creed (film)
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Database: Bartolomeo d'Alviano
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood novel – [citation needed]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Contracts: "Picking Up the Pieces"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts: "Picking Up the Pieces"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Contracts: "Closure"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Contracts: "Closure"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood – Database: Napoli
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Identity – Database: War of the League of Cambrai
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations novel – [citation needed]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Mediterranean Defense: "Just Following Orders, Part II"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Revelations – Mediterranean Defense: "Just Following Orders, Part III"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Initiates – The Desmond Files
- ↑ Assassin's Creed II – Glyph #5: "Instruments of Power"
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy – Mnemonic sets
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