Ferdinand II

king of the Two Sicilies, grandson of the preceding and son of Francis I.; after the death of his first wife, a daughter of Victor Emmanuel I., he married the Austrian prince Maria-The res a, and fell under the influence of Austria during the rest of his reign; in 1848 he was compelled to grant constitutional rights to his people, but was distrusted, and an insurrection broke out in Sicily; with mercile severity he crushed the revolt, and by his savage bombardment of the cities won him the epithet "Bomba"; a reign of terror ensued, and in 1851 Europe was startled by the revelations of cruel injustice contained in Mr. Gladstone's famous Neapolitan letters (1810-1859).