Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1585–1645)

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Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Prince of Maratea

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Engraving of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Governor of the Duchy of Milan
In office
1625–1629
Monarch Philip IV of Spain
Preceded by Gómez Suárez de Figueroa
Succeeded by Ambrosio Spinola
Personal details
Born(1585-12-31)31 December 1585
Cabra, Province of Córdoba, Spain
Died 16 February 1645(1645-02-16) (aged 59)
Montalbán, Spain
Military service
Allegiance Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg Spain
Battles/wars


Gonzalo Andrés Domingo Fernández de Córdoba (31 December 1585 – 16 February 1645) was a Spanish military leader during the Eighty Years' War, Thirty Years' War and the War of the Mantuan Succession.

Eighty Years War 16th and 17th-century Dutch revolt against the Habsburgs

The Eighty Years' War or Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648) was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces of what are today the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg against Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands. After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebelling provinces. Under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the northern provinces continued their resistance. They eventually were able to oust the Habsburg armies, and in 1581 they established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The war continued in other areas, although the heartland of the republic was no longer threatened; this included the beginnings of the Dutch Colonial Empire, which at the time were conceived as carrying overseas the war with Spain. The Dutch Republic was recognized by Spain and the major European powers in 1609 at the start of the Twelve Years' Truce. Hostilities broke out again around 1619, as part of the broader Thirty Years' War. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster, when the Dutch Republic was definitively recognised as an independent country no longer part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Peace of Münster is sometimes considered the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age.

Thirty Years War War between 1618 and 1648; with over 8 million fatalities

The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. One of the most destructive conflicts in human history, it resulted in eight million fatalities not only from military engagements but also from violence, famine, and plague. Casualties were overwhelmingly and disproportionately inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire, most of the rest being battle deaths from various foreign armies. In terms of proportional German casualties and destruction, it was surpassed only by the period January to May 1945; one of its enduring results was 19th-century Pan-Germanism, when it served as an example of the dangers of a divided Germany and became a key justification for the 1871 creation of the German Empire.

War of the Mantuan Succession war in Northern Italy

The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31) was a peripheral part of the Thirty Years' War. Its casus belli was the extinction of the direct male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. Brothers Francesco IV (1612), Ferdinando (1612–26) and Vincenzo II (1626–27), the last three dukes of Mantua from the direct line, had all died leaving no legitimate heirs. The war, fought among the backers of rival claimants, pitted France against the Habsburgs in a contest for control of northern Italy.

Contents

Biography

He was born at Cabra, in what is now the Province of Córdoba and was the third son of Antonio Fernández de Córdoba Cardona y Requesens, the Duke of Soma and was great-great-great grandchild of his namesake Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Capitan. In 1624 was awarded the title of the first Prince of Maratea.

Cabra, Spain Place in Andalusia, Spain

Cabra is a rural town in Córdoba province, Andalusia, Spain and the site of former bishopric Egabro. It lies along the route between Cordoba and Málaga in the south of Spain. It is an entrance point to the Parque Natural de las Sierras Subbeticas. Although the main activity in Cabra is primary industry, it is noted as a source of red polished limestone. As a settlement, Cabra has existed over centuries, under many different rulers. In 2005, the municipality had a population of 20,940, most of whom (19,523) lived in Cabra township.

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Spanish general

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba was a Spanish general and statesman who led successful military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. His military victories and widespread popularity earned him the distinction of being called "El Gran Capitán". He also negotiated the final surrender of Granada and later served as Viceroy of Naples. Córdoba was a masterful military strategist and tactician. He was the first to introduce the successful use of firearms on the battlefield and he reorganized his infantry to include pikes and firearms in effective defensive and offensive formations. The changes implemented by Córdoba were instrumental in making the Spanish army a dominant force in Europe for more than a hundred years.

Maratea Comune in Basilicata, Italy

Maratea is a town and comune of Basilicata, in the province of Potenza. It is the only comune of the region on the Tyrrhenian coast, and is known as "the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian". Owing to the considerable number of its churches and chapels it has also been described as "the town with 44 churches".

He was one of the commanders in the Catholic alliance under the Imperial general Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly in the successful battles of Wimpfen and Höchst. From 1621 to 1623 he commanded units of the Army of Flanders in the Palatinate, and Flanders, and defeated the Anglo-German Protestant forces in the sieges of Bacharach and Heidelberg and the Dutch at Fleurus.

Holy Roman Empire varying complex of lands that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe

The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in Western and Central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. The largest territory of the empire after 962 was the Kingdom of Germany, though it also came to include the neighboring Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Kingdom of Italy, and numerous other territories.

Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly austrian general

Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly was a field marshal who commanded the Catholic League's forces in the Thirty Years' War. From 1620–31, he had an unmatched and demoralizing string of important victories against the Protestants, including White Mountain, Wimpfen, Höchst, Stadtlohn and the Conquest of the Palatinate. He destroyed a Danish army at Lutter and sacked the Protestant city of Magdeburg, which caused the death of some 20,000 of the cities inhabitants, both defenders and non-combatants, out of a total population of 25,000. Tilly was then crushed at Breitenfeld in 1631 by the Swedish army of King Gustavus Adolphus. A Swedish cannonball took his life at Rain. Along with Duke Albrecht von Wallenstein of Friedland and Mecklenburg, he was one of two chief commanders of the Holy Roman Empire’s forces in the first half of the war.

Battle of Wimpfen battle

The Battle of Wimpfen was a battle in the Bohemian Revolt period of the Thirty Years' War on 6 May 1622 near Wimpfen.

From 1625 to 1629 he was Governor of the Duchy of Milan. In 1628 he took part in the War of the Mantuan Succession.
When he failed to take Casale and stop the French invasion in 1629, he was called back to Madrid and court-martialed.
He was reinstated a few years later and sent to the Netherlands in 1632. Here he conducted operations on the lower Rhine in the rear of the victorious army of Gustavus Adolphus, but he was unable to prevent the Capture of Maastricht by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. He was recalled to Spain in 1633 and died at Montalbán in 1645, without having been married, and with no issue.

Madrid Capital of Spain

Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has almost 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (EU), smaller than only London and Berlin, and its monocentric metropolitan area is the third-largest in the EU, smaller only than those of London and Paris. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).

Netherlands Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Europe

The Netherlands is a country located mainly in Northwestern Europe. The European portion of the Netherlands consists of twelve separate provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, with maritime borders in the North Sea with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Together with three island territories in the Caribbean Sea—Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba— it forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, but a secondary official language in the province of Friesland is West Frisian.

Capture of Maastricht

The Siege of Maastricht was fought between 9 June and 22 August 1632, when the Dutch commander Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange eventually captured the city from Habsburg forces.

Trivia

He is also a character in the novel The Betrothed, where Alessandro Manzoni describes the anger of the Milanese populace towards him, when he leaves Milan in 1629.

<i>The Betrothed</i> (Manzoni novel) Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni

The Betrothed is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes. It has been called the most famous and widely read novel in the Italian language.

Alessandro Manzoni Italian poet and novelist

Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist. He is famous for the novel The Betrothed (1827), generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. The novel is also a symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, both for its patriotic message and because it was a fundamental milestone in the development of the modern, unified Italian language. Manzoni also sat the basis for the modern Italian language and helped creating linguistic unity throughout Italy. He was an influential proponent of Liberal Catholicism in Italy.

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The Catholic League was a coalition of Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire formed 10 July 1609. While initially formed as a confederation to act politically to negotiate issues vis-à-vis the Protestant Union, modelled on the more intransigent ultra-Catholic French Catholic League (1576), it was subsequently concluded as a military alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire".

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Capture of Bacharach

The Capture of Bacharach took place on 1 October 1620 at Bacharach, Electorate of the Palatinate. The conflict was between the Spanish forces commanded by Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and the Protestant forces of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, during the Palatinate campaign in the context of the Thirty Years' War. After a quick start of the invasion of states of Frederick V, proclaimed King of Bohemia, the operations slowed in mid-September, after the Capture of Oppenheim. Don Ambrosio Spinola, the Spanish general in command, assessed at a council of war the choice between undertaking the siege of Heidelberg or, secondarily, the town of Bacharach. The Spanish officers decided to take Bacharach due to the small number of Frederick's scattered forces. On 1 October Córdoba captured Bacharach with a force of 2,500 soldiers, forcing the Anglo-German defenders to surrender.

Gilles De Haes

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The Siege of Frankenthal was a siege of the Palatinate campaign during the Thirty Years' War. A Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba besieged the city and its mostly English garrison commanded by Horace Vere. The siege lasted from 1621 to March 20, 1623, when King James I ordered the city to surrender.

References

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    Government offices
    Preceded by
    Gómez Suárez de Figueroa, 3rd Duke of Feria
    Governor of the Duchy of Milan
    1625-1629
    Succeeded by
    Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases