ABSTRACT
The opening years of the reign of Ferrante I of Naples appear at first sight to have been studied with an exhaustiveness that is not matched by existing studies of his later years; Count Emilio Nunziante's study of the first years of Ferrante published a century ago in Naples is arguably one of the longest monographs ever to be graced with the mere title of 'article', and has long been a major place of reference.' Yet Nunziante insisted that he was not a historian who had set out to analyse his archival material, but only a compiler of data which others would perhaps be able to utilise; this was perhaps a sign of undue modesty, yet even so the sheer scale of his enterprise makes it hard to see the wood for the trees.2 Ernesto Pontieri's discussion of the early life of Ferrante has also done much to illuminate understanding of the bastard prince's role in the political plans of his father Alfonso the Magnanimous after the Aragonese king succeeded in
' E. Nunziante, 'I primi anni di Ferdinando d'Aragona e l'invasione di Giovanni d'Angio', Archivio storico perle province napoletane, 17 (1892), 299-357, 564-86, 731-76; 18 (1893), 3-40, 207-46, 411-62, 563-620; 19 (1894), 37-96, 300-53, 419-44, 596-658; 20 (1895), 20664, 442-513; 21 (1896), 265-89, 494-532; 22 (1897), 47-64, 204-40; 23 (1898), 144-210. The aim here has been to avoid repeating the essentials of Nunziante's discussion, notably his attention to the question of Genoa, and to concentrate rather on the way Ferrante pressed his case at the court of Milan and further afield.
