The wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries caused endless changes of dynasty in the continental kingdom, but no changes of frontier. ♦Union of Aragon, Sardinia, and continental Sicily under Alfonso, 1442.♦ Under the famous Alfonso in the fifteenth century, Aragon, Sardinia, and the continental Sicily were three kingdoms under one sovereign, while the insular Sicily was ruled by another branch of the same house. ♦Aragonese kings of the island, 1296-1442. | 1458-1701.♦ Then continental Sicily passed to an illegitimate branch of the House of Aragon, while Sardinia and insular Sicily were held by the legitimate branch. ♦Wars beginning with Charles the Eighth, 1494-1528. | Spanish, 1556-1701.♦ The French invasion under Charles the Eighth and the long wars that followed, the conquests, the restorations, the schemes of division, all ended in the union of both the Sicilian kingdoms, now known as the _Kingdom of the Two Sicilies_, along with Sardinia, as part of the great Spanish monarchy. ♦1554-1555.♦ A momentary separation of the insular kingdom, in order to give the husband of Mary of England royal rank while his father yet reigned, is important only as the first formal use of the title of _King of Naples_. ♦Sardinia and Naples Austrian. | Duke of Savoy king of Sicily, 1713.♦ In the division of the Spanish monarchy, Sardinia and Naples fell to the lot of the Austrian House, while Sicily was given to the Duke of Savoy, who thus gained substantial kingly rank. ♦Exchange of Sicily and Sardinia, 1718.♦ Presently the kings of the two island kingdoms made an exchange; Sardinia passed to Savoy, and the Emperor Charles the Sixth ruled, like Frederick the Second and Charles the Fifth, over both Sicilies. ♦The Spanish Bourbons, 1735-1806. | 1817-1860.♦ Lastly, the kingdom was handed over from an Austrian to a new Spanish master, the first of the line of Neapolitan Bourbons. Thus, at the end of the last century, the Two Sicilies formed a distinct and united kingdom, while Sardinia formed the outlying realm of the Duke of Savoy and Prince of Piedmont. His kingdom was of far less value than his principality or his duchy. ♦Use of the name _Sardinia_.♦ But, as Sardinia gave their common sovereign his highest title, the Sardinian name often came in common speech to be extended to the continental dominions of its king. * * * * * ♦Time of the Revolution, 1797-1814.♦