Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 1507 – 11 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (Spanish: Gran Duque de Alba, Portuguese: Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke (Dutch: IJzeren Hertog or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a Spanish noble, general and diplomat. Alba achieved notoriety for his actions during the Eighty Years' War in the Spanish Netherlands, where his prolonged military campaigns and harsh repression failed to suppress the Dutch Revolt.
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Álvarez de Toledo and the second or maternal family name is Pimentel.
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo3rd Duke of Alba GE
New title
Juan Fernández Manrique de Lara
11 December 1582 (aged 75)
Lisbon, Iberian Union, Spanish Empire, modern day Portugal
María Enríquez de Toledo y Guzmán
Fernando de Toledo
García Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán
Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzman
Diego Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán
Beatriz Álvarez de Toledo y Enríquez de Guzmán
- Soldier
- diplomat
- statesman
- Siege of Perpignan
- Spanish invasion of Rome[1]
Born into a prominent Castilian military family, Alba first distinguished himself in the 1535 conquest of Tunis during the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars as part of a long conflict for predominance over the western Mediterranean Sea. He then commanded the Spanish troops at the Battle of Mühlberg (1547), where the army of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V defeated the German Protestant princes in the Schmalkaldic War. Alba was the commander-in-chief of the Spanish-Habsburg army during the Italian War of 1551–1559, and became governor of Milan in 1555 and viceroy of Naples in 1556.
In 1567, King Philip II of Spain appointed Alba governor of the Netherlands and tasked him with the suppression of Dutch rebels. Alba instituted the Council of Troubles, which led to the condemnations of thousands and came to be known as the "Council of Blood". Militarily, Alba repeatedly defeated the troops of William of Orange during the first stages of the Eighty Years' War but failed to extinguish the rebellion, and in 1573 he was recalled to Spain. Alba's last military successes were in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, for which he was rewarded the titles viceroy and constable of Portugal. He held both titles until his death in Lisbon in 1582.
Mayordomo mayor to the Spanish kings[edit]
In 1541 Fernando Álvarez de Toledo was named Mayordomo Mayor del Rey de España (High Steward to the King of Spain) by Charles I of Spain.[2] Alba kept this office in court until the death of the monarch in 1556.
In 1546, Charles I invested Fernando, the Third Duke of Alba Grand Master as knight of the Illustrious Order of the Golden Fleece.
From 1548 King Charles intensified the preparations of Prince Philip as his successor in the Spanish Monarchy, and he named Duke of Alba mayordomo mayor of his son to prepare Philip for his new role. Fernando took Philip on a tour around Europe that lasted until 1551. Fernando accompanied Philip to England to attend his marriage to Mary Tudor. The Duke was one of fifteen grandees of Spain who attended the ceremony in the abbey of Winchester on 25 July 1554.
After the death of Charles, the new King Philip II maintained Fernando, Third Duke of Alba, as mayordomo mayor until the death of the Duke in 1582.
In 1563, King Philip II created the title Duke of Huéscar to be bestowed on the heir of the Dukes of Alba. Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, son of Fernando became 1st Duke of Huéscar.
In 1566, Alba's son and heir, Fadrique, broke his promise of marriage to Magdalena de Guzman, lady of Queen Anne of Austria, which led to his arrest and imprisonment in the Castle of La Mota in Valladolid. The following year he was released so he could go to Flanders with his father to serve in the military. In 1578 Philip II ordered the case against Fadrique reopened. It was discovered that in order to avoid marriage, Fadrique had secretly married María de Toledo, daughter of García Álvarez de Toledo and Osorio, IV Marquess of Villafranca del Bierzo, using a permit issued for that purpose by his father the Duke of Alba. Fadrique was sent to prison, in the Castle of La Mota. Fernando, Duke of Alba was banished from the court for one year for "breaking the strict court protocol."[3] The Duke went into exile in Uceda, where his secretaries Fernando de Albornoz and Esteban Ibarra likewise spent their punishment.[4]
Military commands[edit]
Against the Ottomans and French (1532–42)[edit]
After Fernando had become the third Duke of Alba in 1532, Charles V sent him to Vienna to help defend the city against an Ottoman invasion army. No battle ensued as the Ottomans, having lost momentum due to time lost during the Siege of Güns, decided not to advance against Vienna and retreated from the field.
During this time, he was accompanied by the soldier-poet Garcilaso de la Vega throughout his travels in Europe. The special access that De La Vega had as a close companion to Alba, coupled with his skilled craft as a writer, allows the historian to delve into the deepest emotions expressed by the Duke of Alba through the poetry of De La Vega, specifically concerning the arduous travels while on a war-footing as well as the emotional longing that Alba expressed for his wife.[5]
The Duke's first military command to engage in battle was in the conquest of Tunis. In early June 1535 at Cagliari, he embarked with the military force commanded by the Marquess of Vasto. On 14 July, the fortress of La Goleta was seized, and a week later the army took the city of Tunis which was defended by Hayreddin Barbarossa. Thus Spain regained control over the western Mediterranean Sea.
In 1542, he led the Spanish troops against the French Army, ending the siege of Perpignan. The siege was a decisive victory for Alba and one of the worst defeats of Francis I during the French offensive of 1542.
In Germany (1546–47)[edit]
In 1547, Charles I, in his capacity as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor engaged with the Protestant forces in the Schmalkaldic War. The Duke of Alba was in charge of Tercios, the elite Spanish ground troops during the Battle of Mühlberg on the banks of the river Elbe. A flanking attack by Alba's Tercios was largely responsible for the imperial army's decisive victory against the Elector of Saxony.
His first child, Fernando de Toledo (1527–1591), was an illegitimate son with a miller's daughter in the town of La Aldehuela.[26]
27 April 1529[27] the Duke married his cousin María Enríquez de Toledo y Guzmán (died 1583), daughter of Diego Enríquez de Guzmán, III Count of Alba de Liste, with whom he had four children.
Later years and death[edit]
Alba died in Lisbon on 11 December 1582, at the age of seventy-five; he was given the last rites by the famous Luis de Granada.
His remains were transferred to Alba de Tormes, where he was buried in the convent of San Leonardo. In 1619 they were transferred to the Convento de San Esteban, Salamanca. In 1983 a mausoleum was erected over his grave, funded by the Provincial Deputation of Salamanca.[28][29]
Aceh War reference[edit]
In 1904 there was in the Dutch press and House of Representatives an intensive debate on the conduct of Gotfried Coenraad Ernst van Daalen, a Dutch commander who during the then current Aceh War was charged with the killing of numerous civilians, including women and children, during the conquest of Aceh in northern Sumatra. Some of van Daalen's detractors compared his conduct with the atrocities committed by the Duke of Alba, still well remembered in Dutch historical memory.[30]