Ferdinand III., saint, king of Castile and Leon, born in 1199, died in Seville, May 30, 1252. The son of Alfonso IX. of Leon by Berengaria, queen of Castile, he was indebted to his mother for the latter kingdom, of which he was placed in possession in 1217. His power being firmly established, he commenced in 1225 against the Mohammedans a career of conquest which effectually broke the Moorish power in;

Spain. In concert with several other princes he first carried his arms through Murcia and Andalusia. Alfonso, dying in 1230, declared his marriage with Berengaria void, and designated his two daughters by his first marriage as his successors. Ferdinand interrupted his progress for a while to secure the inheritnce, which he soon accomplished, and thus permanently united the kingdoms of Castile and Leon. Being now sovereign of Spain from the bay of Biscay to the banks of the Guadalquivir, and from the confines of Portugal to those of Aragon and Valencia, he was enabled to push his conquests with renewed energy. In 1233 he triumphed over Aben Hud, king of Murcia; he then successively obtained possession of Toledo, Cordova, Ubeda, Trujillo, Jaen, and finally Seville, which surrendered Nov. 23, 1248, after a siege of a year and a half. Ferdinand was an unsparing enemy of the Jews and Albigenses who had sought a refuge within his dominions. He founded the university of Salamanca, and was canonized by Pope Clement X. in 1671.