Ferdinand II of Aragon

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.

By 1491, members of both the Assassin and Templar Orders had infiltrated Ferdinand and Isabella's close circle in an an attempt to obtain influence over the royal house; Ferdinand's own treasurer, Raphael Sánchez, was a member of the Spanish Brotherhood.

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.

Italian Wars

In 1503, Ferdinand hired Bartolomeo d'Alviano to help the Spanish army defeat the French army in the Kingdom of Naples. 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. Unbeknownst to both Ferdinand and Isabella, the Assassins had secretly been poisoning Isabella for having served the Borgia, thus finishing the work of her Jewish finance minister and secret Assassin Luis de Santángel. Isabella subsequently died in November 1504. The next year, Ferdinand seized power of the Kingdom of Naples in the name of Spain.

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, Mentor of the Italian Assassins, killed Cesare Borgia during the battle, greatly aiding Ferdinand's forces, although the Navarrese still won a pyrrhic victory.

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.

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.

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 later did in September of that year. Desmond solved this puzzle, which was part of a set titled "Instruments of Power" where Ferdinand was excluded from the list of individuals revealed by Clay to have wielded a Staff of Eden. Later that year, he was also included in a mnemonic set in Abstergo Industries' Project Legacy.

Behind the scenes

Ferdinand II is a historical figure introduced in the 2016 film Assassin's Creed, where he was portrayed by Thomas Camilleri.

Gallery

• 
  Ferdinand in Seville with his wife and Torquemada
• 
  Ferdinand in Grand Inquisition by Francisco Rizi
• 
  The Return of Christopher Columbus by Eugène Delacroix

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed II (Glyph and Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy (mnemonic set only)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Recollection (indirect mention only)
• Assassin's Creed: Identity (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed film (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: The Official Movie Novelization