| Content from Wikipedia under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license ⇔ Maps from OpenStreetMap under the ODbL license |
Fadrique de Toledo Osorio (1580–1634)
Fadrique de Toledo | |
|---|---|
 Fadrique de Toledo. Detail of the painting Recovery of the Island of Saint Christopher (1634), by Félix Castelo (Museo del Prado, Madrid). |
Fadrique de Toledo Osorio (Naples, May 30, 1580 – Madrid, December 11, 1634) was a Spanish soldier and politician. He was the 1st Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza, Captain General of the Armada of the Ocean Sea and of the Men-at-Arms of the Kingdom of Portugal, and a Knight of the Order of Santiago. He later became Commander of the Valle de Ricote and Grand Commander of Castile in that Order.
Biography
Oil on canvas by Fray Juan Bautista Maíno for King Philip IV of Spain and III of Portugal. Museo del Prado, Madrid.[1]
He was born in Naples on May 30, 1580. He was the son of Pedro de Toledo Osorio, 5th Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo, and Elvira de Mendoza. From birth he inherited the office of Commander of the Valle de Ricote in the Order of Santiago.
He began by serving in the galleys under his father's command and, like his brother García Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, rose rapidly in his military career.
In 1617 he attained the office of Captain General of the Armada of the Ocean Sea. This led him into numerous new engagements, commanding the squadron against the Dutch, the English and the Barbary corsairs.
At the naval battle of Cape St. Vincent, in 1621, he defeated the fleet of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and at the naval battle of the English Channel, in 1623, he again defeated the Dutch fleet and prevented it from crossing the channel by establishing a blockade of its coasts. Shortly afterward he defeated a Berber fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Owing to the aeque principaliter dynastic union under the House of Habsburg, he was General of the Kingdom of Portugal and Captain General of the Armada of Brazil. In 1625, with a fleet of 26 ships, carrying 450 cannons and 3,500 landing troops, he was sent to recover the city of Salvador de Bahía, which had been occupied by Dutch forces from the Netherlands. In a combined land and sea operation he forced the surrender of the City of Bahía and captured thousands of Dutchmen. He continued military operations, dislodging the Dutch and English from other points in Brazil.
In 1629 he led the expedition of the Spanish Armada in the Sea of the Antilles and fought the Battle of Saint Christopher, in which he defeated a corsair fleet at Nevis Island, expelled the English and French from the Island of Saint Christopher and burned all their coffee and tobacco plantations.
His growing power brought him into direct conflict with the authoritarianism and the foreign policy of the Count-Duke of Olivares, who, in order to remove him from the court, sought to send him to America to recover the stronghold of Pernambuco and the other Brazilian strongholds occupied in 1630 by an immense Dutch fleet carrying as many as 7,000 landing troops. Fadrique refused the mission because of his state of health and because of the disposition and condition of the fleet, for which proceedings for disobedience were brought against him. This court-martial removed him from his post, humiliated him and condemned him to a life of hardship and discredit. He fell practically into destitution for not carrying out the mission Olivares demanded of him.
Shortly afterward his reputation was restored. The naval and military exploits of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo were reason enough for the King of Spain, Philip IV, to grant him the title of Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza on January 17, 1634. His deeds earned him great fame, and plays and poems were dedicated to him.
The man who had once been the finest Spanish seaman of his age died a short time later, in Madrid, on December 11, 1634.
The fall of the Count-Duke of Olivares in 1643 increased his fame as one of the bravest and most distinguished Captains General the Spanish Armada ever had.
To the staff you saw in his hand,
with royal and flourishing aspect,
peacefully the Trident obeyed
of the green Emperor of the Ocean.
Marriage and issue
Fadrique married in Madrid, on August 12, 1627, his niece Elvira Ponce de León, daughter of Luis Ponce de León, 5th Marquis of Zahara, and of Victoria Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, daughter of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, 5th Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo and 2nd Duke of Fernandina. From this marriage Fadrique had the following children:
- Elvira Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, wife of Juan Gaspar Enríquez de Cabrera, 6th Duke of Medina de Rioseco.
- Victoria Colonna de Toledo, married to her cousin Francisco Ponce de León, 5th Duke of Arcos.
- Fadrique de Toledo Osorio, 7th Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo, 2nd Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza and Grandee of Spain.
After Fadrique's death in 1634, his wife, the Dowager Marchioness of Villanueva de Valdueza, was one of the most important figures at the court of Mariana of Austria, since she held the office of camarera mayor from January 8, 1654, five years after Mariana of Austria's arrival at Court. She served her throughout her time as Queen consort of Spain, from 1649 to 1665, as second wife of King Philip IV, and as Regent, from 1665 to 1675, as mother of King Charles II and Queen Mother.
Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio had two illegitimate sons:
- Pedro Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, Abbot of the Abbey of Alcalá la Real between 1676 and 1691.
- Íñigo de Toledo, married(?) to Leonor de Velasco, 11th Countess of Siruela.
Ancestors
Ancestors of Don Fadrique de Toledo
| Generation | Ancestors |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1. Fadrique de Toledo Osorio, 1st Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza |
| 2 | 2. Pedro de Toledo Osorio, 5th Marquis of Villafranca 3. Elvira de Mendoza |
| 3 | 4. García de Toledo Osorio, 4th Marquis of Villafranca 5. Victoria Colonna 6. Íñigo López de Mendoza, 3rd Marquis of Mondéjar 7. María de Mendoza |
| 4 | 8. Pedro de Toledo 9. María Osorio, 2nd Marchioness of Villafranca 10. Ascanio Colonna, 2nd Duke of Paliano 11. Juana de Aragón 12. Luis Hurtado de Mendoza, 2nd Marquis of Mondéjar 13. Catalina de Mendoza 14. Íñigo López de Mendoza, 4th Duke of the Infantado 15. Isabel de Aragón |
| 5 | 16. Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 2nd Duke of Alba 17. Isabel de Zúñiga y Pimentel 18. Luis Pimentel, 1st Marquis of Villafranca 19. María Osorio, 1st Marchioness of Villafranca 20. Fabricio Colonna, 1st Duke of Paliano 21. Inés de Montefeltro 22. Fernando de Aragón, 1st Duke of Montalto 23. Castellana de Cardona 24. Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Mondéjar 25. Francisca Pacheco 26. Pedro González de Mendoza, 1st Count of Monteagudo 27. Isabel de Zúñiga 28. Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 3rd Duke of the Infantado 29. María Pimentel 30. Infante Enrique de Aragón, 1st Duke of Segorbe 31. Guiomar de Portugal |
References
- ↑ "La recuperación de Bahía de Todos los Santos". Museo del Prado: galería online (in español). 1634–1635.
- ↑ "Recuperación de la isla de San Cristóbal". Museo del Prado: galería online (in español). 1634.
External links
