FERDINAND I. , also called Don Ferrante, king of Naples, the natural son of Alphonso V. of Aragon and I. of Sicily and Naples, was born in 1423. He succeeded his father 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. The new pope, Pius II., recognized Ferdinand, but John of Anjou 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 Ales sandro Sforza and of the Albanian chief, Skanderbeg, he re established (1464) his authority in the kingdom. In 1480 the Turks captured and sacked Otranto, but in the following year it was retaken by Ferdinand's son Alphonso, duke of Calabria. An attempt at revolt on the part of the nobles in 1485 was crushed ; many of the nobles, notwithstanding Ferdinand's promise of a general amnesty, were afterwards treacherously murdered at his express command. He died in Jan.