| Content from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license ⇔ Maps from OpenStreetMap under the ODbL license |
Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma
| Alexander Farnese | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro | |
 Portrait by Otto van Veen (1585) | |
| Reign | 15 September 1586 – 3 December 1592 |
| Predecessor | Ottavio Farnese |
| Successor | Ranuccio I Farnese |
| Born | 27 August 1545 Rome (Papal States) |
| Died | 3 December 1592 (aged 47) Arras (Artois) |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Maria of Portugal |
| Issue | See issue |
| House | House of Farnese |
| Father | Ottavio Farnese |
| Mother | Margaret of Austria |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Occupation | Military |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Hispanic Monarchy |
Rank | Governor of the Netherlands Maestre de campo general Duke of Parma |
| Nickname | Thunderbolt of War |
| Unit | Spanish Tercio |
| Commands | Captain General of the Army of Flanders (1578) Captain General of the army invading France (1590) |
Conflicts | |
| Awards | Knight of the Golden Fleece |
Alexander Farnese, III Duke of Parma, Piacenza and of Castro (Italian: Alessandro Farnese; Rome, 27 August 1545 – Arras, 3 December 1592), son of Ottavio Farnese and Margaret of Parma, natural (later legitimized) daughter[1] of Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, nephew of Philip II and of John of Austria.
Alexander Farnese carried out important military and diplomatic work in the service of the Spanish Crown, fighting in the Battle of Lepanto against the Turks and in the Netherlands against the Dutch rebels, as well as in France in the Wars of Religion on the Catholic side against the Protestant one.
For his achievements as a strategist, diplomat and commander, he is considered the best general of his era and one of the best of all time.[2][3] His military and political success in the Netherlands, where he would reconquer thirty cities in a single campaign alone,[4] solidified Hispanic control of the southern provinces, creating the geographic and cultural roots that would become the modern nation of Belgium.[5]
Biography
He accompanied his mother to Brussels after she had been appointed Governor of the Netherlands in 1559. Alexander had grown up in Spain with his first cousin Prince Carlos, son of Philip II, and his uncle John of Austria; the three studied at the University of Alcalá.
Several years passed before he could demonstrate his talent for military operations. One of his first operations would thus be the famous Battle of Lepanto, in which he commanded three galleys and managed to capture the enemy treasure ship. He went so far as to take part as an ordinary soldier, boarding the Turkish ships armed with a montante and single-handedly striking down numerous enemies.[6]
During that time, the Netherlands had rebelled against his uncle Philip II, Lord of Flanders and King of Spain, and, after the death of Luis de Requesens, his uncle Don John of Austria was sent as Governor in 1576. In the autumn of 1577 Alexander Farnese was sent to assist him, arriving as Commander of the army at the head of the tercios, with which in January 1578 he defeated a Protestant army at the Battle of Gembloux. Previously Don John of Austria had asked Philip II to appoint Alexander Governor of the Netherlands, to which the King agreed.
He demonstrated his gifts as a diplomat three months later, in January 1579, when, through the Union of Arras, he succeeded in bringing back to obedience to Philip II the southern provinces that had joined William of Orange in rebellion. By contrast, the rebel provinces definitively renounced the sovereignty of Philip II a few weeks later through the Union of Utrecht.
As soon as he obtained a secure base of operations in the province of Hainaut and Artois, he set out to reconquer the provinces of Brabant and Flanders. One city after another fell under his control until he arrived before Antwerp, which he besieged in 1584. The siege of Antwerp demanded all of Alexander's military genius and willpower to complete the encirclement and finally force the city to surrender on 15 August 1585. Alexander's military success placed all the southern provinces of the Netherlands back in the hands of Philip II, but the terrain and geographic situation of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland made their conquest impossible without command of the sea, which was in the hands of the rebels.
In 1586 he became Duke of Parma upon the death of his father and asked the King for permission to absent himself and visit the territory of the duchy, permission that was not granted to him, since the King considered him irreplaceable.
In preparation for the attempted invasion of England with the Invincible Armada, Alexander marched against the cities of Ostend and Sluis and conquered the latter, where the Armada arrived in 1587. After the defeat of the Armada, Alexander settled in Dunkirk.
After the assassination of the French King Henry III in December 1589, Alexander was sent with the army to France to fight alongside the Catholic League, opposed to King Henry IV. In this campaign, he managed to break the Siege of Paris (1590) and enter the city, relieving the famine that had arisen, with both he and his troops being cheered by the people. At the siege of Caudebec, on 25 April 1592, he was wounded by a musket shot.[7] He withdrew with his army to Flanders. Afterwards his health worsened and he died on the night of 2 to 3 December 1592 in the Abbey of Saint-Vaast in Arras. His remains rest in the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma (Italy).
Marriage and children
In 1565 he married Maria of Portugal, a wedding celebrated in Brussels with great splendor. After his marriage he settled at the court of Madrid. From this marriage were born:
- Margherita Farnese (1567–1643), married to Vincenzo I Gonzaga.
- Ranuccio I Farnese (1569–1622), his successor and one of the possible heirs to the Portuguese throne during the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 (being a great-grandson of Manuel I of Portugal).
- Odoardo Farnese (1573–1626), who was a cardinal.
After the death of his wife he had a natural daughter with Catalina de Roquoi, a prominent lady of Flanders from the House of Roquoi:
- Isabel Margarida Farnese (Luxembourg, 1578 – Lisbon, 1610), married in Rouen in April 1592 (some say there was no marriage) to the Portuguese Juan de Meneses, the Red (the Purple), lord of the mayorazgo of Penamacor, colonel of the Spanish Army, maestre de campo in the Spanish Netherlands, only son of Simón de Meneses, with whom she had a daughter named Leonor de Meneses.
Trivia
In 1956 the fourth tercio of the Spanish Legion was created, named Tercio Alejandro Farnesio in his honor.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Alexander I of Parma
- 1. Alexander I Farnese
- 2. Ottavio Farnese
- 4. Pier Luigi Farnese
- 8. Pope Paul III
- 16. Pier Luigi Farnese (the Elder)
- 17. Giovanella Gaetani
- 9. Silvia Ruffini
- 8. Pope Paul III
- 5. Girolama Orsini
- 10. Ludovico Orsini
- 20. Niccolò Orsini, Count of Pitigliano
- 21. Elena dei Conti Montalcino
- 11. Giulia de Giacomo Conti
- 10. Ludovico Orsini
- 4. Pier Luigi Farnese
- 3. Margaret of Austria
- 6. Charles I of Spain and V of Germany
- 7. Johanna Maria van der Gheynst
- 14. Gilles Johann van der Gheynst
- 15. Johanna van der Caye van Cocambi
- 2. Ottavio Farnese
References
- ↑ Fernández Álvarez 1999, p. 777
- ↑ Keegan, John; Wheatcroft, Andrew (2014). Who's Who in Military History: From 1453 to the Present Day. London: Routledge.
- ↑ Diccionario enciclopédico hispano-americano de literatura, ciencias y artes: Apéndice 24-25. Second appendix 26-28. Montaner y Simón. 1891.
- ↑ Tucker, Spencer (2009). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East [6 volumes]: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. ABC-CLIO. p. 821.
- ↑ Eric J., Griffin (2012). English Renaissance Drama and the Specter of Spain: Ethnopoetics and Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780812202106.
- ↑ Famiano Strada, Primera Década de las Guerras de Flandes, 1681
- ↑ Memorial histórico español, p. x.
Bibliography
- Claramunt Soto, Álex (2016). Farnesio: La ocasión perdida de los Tercios. H de Historia (in español). Ángel García Pinto (illustrator). HRM Ediciones. ISBN 978-8494476853.
- Fernández Álvarez, Manuel (1999). Carlos V, el césar y el hombre (in español). Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, S.A. ISBN 84-239-9752-9.
- Hortal Muñoz, José Eloy (2004). El manejo de los asuntos de Flandes, 1585-1598 (PDF) (in español). Doctoral thesis. Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Dept. de Historia Moderna, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. ISBN 9788483440247.
- Martínez Laínez, Francisco (2007). Una pica en Flandes:La epopeya del Camino Español (in español). Madrid: EDAF. p. 376. ISBN 9788441419476. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- Peña Blanco, Joaquín Guillermo (2017). Los Tercios de Alejandro Farnesio (1588). El Plan combinado con la Gran Armada y la invasión de Inglaterra (in español). Madrid: Almena. p. 87.
- Pérez Bustamante, Ciriaco (1933). El cronista Antonio de Herrera y la historia de Alejandro Farnesio (in español). Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia. p. 56. OCLC 4073070. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
- Rubio, Julián Mª (1939). Alejandro Farnesio: príncipe de Parma (in español). Zaragoza: Ediciones Luz. p. 293. OCLC 12497739.
- Charles-Albert de Behault, Le siège d'Anvers par Alexandre Farnèse, duc de Parme, in: Bulletin de l'Association de la noblesse du royaume de Belgique, Brussels, no. 307, July 2021.
External links
