Editing Ferdinand II of Naples (section)

=== Youth ===
He had as tutors, but also as advisors and secretaries, Aulus Janus Parrasius,<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=FERDINANDO II d'Aragona, re di Napoli, detto Ferrandino in "Enciclopedia Italiana"|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ferdinando-ii-d-aragona-re-di-napoli-detto-ferrandino_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)|website=treccani.it}}</ref> Gabriele Altilio and Chariteo, who followed their pupil with dedication and loyalty even when he, still a teenager, was called to try his hand at the art of war.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ferdinando-ii-d-aragona-re-di-napoli-detto-ferrandino_(Enciclopedia-machiavelliana)|title=Ferdinando II d'Aragona re di Napoli, detto Ferrandino in "Enciclopedia machiavelliana"|website=treccani.it}}</ref>

Already at the age of fourteen, he had the opportunity to demonstrate his readiness in war, when his grandfather Ferrante put him at the head of a military expedition directed to Abruzzo, as a lieutenant of the king, with the task of defending the coasts from the attacks of the Venetian fleet, when, after the reconquest of Otranto, a new war front opened between Venice and Ferrara (Salt War, 1482-1484) and Ferrante had to intervene in defense of his son-in-law Ercole I d'Este.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=FERDINANDO II d'Aragona, re di Napoli, detto Ferrandino|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ferdinando-ii-d-aragona-re-di-napoli-detto-ferrandino_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/}}</ref>

In the following years, Ferrandino continuously defended the kingdom, fighting against the rebellious barons during the second baronial revolt that, between 1485 and 1486, put King Ferrante in great difficulty. This was still nothing, however, compared to what would have awaited the young Ferrandino in the years of the descent of Charles VIII.<ref name=":4" />

Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti tells of a certain incident that took place on an unspecified day, but since the writer places it a few months before the death of Ippolita Maria Sforza, it would be to be traced back to when the young prince was about twenty years old. It so happened that Ferrandino "for greatness and prowess of spirit, I asked for a stout horse, that fell on him, so that he was taken away believing that he was dead". The young prince would then remain in a coma for 13 days until his mother Hippolyta, crying and devoutly invoking the help of the Virgin with endless prayers, obtained that "the lost, or perhaps lost spirits returned to the lifeless body of the son".<ref>{{cite book |title=Gynevera de le clare donne|author=Giovanni Sabadino degli Arienti}}</ref> Although the story is far-fetched, there is news from the ambassadors of his ruinous fall from his horse in the summer of 1486: initially the prince seemed to have done nothing, in fact he did not want to be medicated,<ref>Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, Nuova serie Anno IX. – XLVIII. dell'intera collezione, 1923, p. 234.</ref> but then he was assailed by a great fever and was in danger of life.<ref>Corrispondenza degli ambasciatori fiorentini a Napoli, Volume 8, 2002, p. 628.</ref> Since he was now considered dead and with no hope of healing, it was "opinione de tucto lo populo" that it was the "infinite orationi made the Ill.ma madamma duchessa his mother" to free him from evil. As an ex voto, his father Alfonso had a silver image of the prince made and donated it to the church of Santa Maria di Loreto, where he had gone to request grace.<ref>Documenti per la storia: Effemeridi delle cose fatte per il duca di Calabria (1484-1491) di Joampiero Leostello ... da un codice della Biblioteca nazionale di Parigi, Di Joampiero Leostello · 1883, p. 116.</ref>

At the death of his younger brother Pietro, which occurred due to illness in 1491, he remained the last hope of Naples and of his old grandfather Ferrante, who by dying already foreshadowed the terrible war that was about to strike the kingdom. The sovereign died on 25 January 1494, Alfonso II ascended to the throne of Naples and did not hesitate a single moment before declaring war on [[Ludovico Sforza|Ludovico il Moro]], occupying as the first act of hostility the city of Bari, a fief of the duke. Alfonso thus came to the rescue of his daughter Isabella, wife of Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza, nephew of Ludovico, to whom his uncle had usurped the Duchy of Milan.<ref name=":3">{{harvnb|Dina|1921|p=328}}.</ref><ref name="Corio 1565 1029">{{harvnb|Corio|1565|p=1029}}</ref>

[[File:Adriano_fiorentino,_medaglia_di_ferdinando_(ferrandino)_d'aragona,_1494-95_(bargello).jpg|link=https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adriano_fiorentino,_medaglia_di_ferdinando_(ferrandino)_d'aragona,_1494-95_(bargello).jpg|thumb|Medal of Ferrandino Duke of Calabria, Adriano Fiorentino, dated 1494.|left]]

Ludovico responded to the threat by giving the green light to the monarch French Charles VIII to descend to Italy to reconquer the kingdom of Naples, which the latter believed usurped by the Aragonese to the Neapolitan Angevins.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="Corio 1565 1029"/>

As supreme captain of the army of the kingdom of Naples, Ferrandino always behaved honestly and, although very young, he knew how to impose order and discipline on his men. In October 1494, for example, he was fighting in Romagna against the French as an ally of Caterina Sforza, Countess of Forlì. To cause the break between the two was the so-called sack of Mordano, which took place between 20 and 21 October: around the city of Mordano they had gathered between fourteen thousand and sixteen thousand French to encircles it with siege and at the same time to trap Ferrandino, who, having fewer men, would almost certainly have been defeated.<ref name=":0" />

Therefore, understanding the situation and on his generals' advice, he decided not to respond to the countess's requests for help. Caterina, very angry, passed on the side of the French, who had devastated her lands and torn her subjects, breaking the alliance with the Neapolitans, and therefore Ferrandino, having learned the news, under a diverted rain was forced to leave Faenza with his men and to get on the way to Cesena. Although they were now enemies and despite the Neapolitan army being short of food, not having been well supplied by the countess even when they were allies, notes Leone Cobelli, a chronicler from Forlì, that Ferrandino always behaved honestly and that vice versa Countess Caterina sent his men to rob him, albeit unsuccessfully:<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Caterina Sforza|author=conte Pier Desiderio Pasolini}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Those of Bertenoro and Cesena did not want to give him more provisions: where the Duke of Calabria and he were reluctant. Now note, reader, that certainly the Duke of Calabria behaved honestly in these lands and countries, and he did not do what he could have done having become our enemy. And when he was our friend he never wanted them to be damaged either in the vineyards or in the branches, and his camp was free and those who brought him provisions wanted them to be well paid, protected and honored, and I never know of a dishonesty of that. encampment: he certainly has a good reputation for it. But we have given him well credit, for people were sent after him to steal and take away horses, weapons and robes.|Leone Cobelli, "Cronache Forlivesi"}}

[[File:Ritratto di Ferdinando II d'Aragona di Napoli.jpg|thumb|Posthumous portrait of Ferrandino, Italian school of the seventeenth century.]]

The sources describe him always impatient to clash with the French and to test his war skills. In fact, when he was still near Imola, on 16 September 1494 "with the helmet on his head and throwing it on his thigh" he went down to openly challenge the French, and seeing that the enemy did not leave the camp "he sent some crossbowmen to invite him up to half a mile below; and no one ever showed up". Two days later, not happy, he sent a herald to the enemy captain, Gianfrancesco Sanseverino d'Aragona, Count of Caiazzo, to ask him "if he wanted to come and break some spear", with a negative result. He then repeated the challenge to the captain French, Robert Stuart d'Aubigny, and the French this time accepted, but the Count of Caiazzo prevented the test from being held and Ferrandino, disappointed, had to settle for small skirmishes.<ref>{{cite book |title=La spedizione di Carlo VIII|author=Marin Sanudo}}</ref>