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Luis de Requesens
Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga, by Francisco Jover y Casanova. 1884. (Museo del Prado). | |
| Born | August 25, 1528 |
| Died | March 5, 1576 (aged 47) |
| Occupations | Soldier, sailor, Diplomat, Politician |
| Known for | Spanish soldier, sailor, diplomat and politician. Governor of the State of Milan and of the Netherlands. |
Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga (Barcelona, August 25, 1528 – Brussels, March 5, 1576) was a Spanish soldier, sailor, diplomat and politician, Governor of the State of Milan (1572–1573) and of the Spanish Netherlands (1573–1576).
Mentor of John of Austria, his work was fundamental to the great victory of the Holy League at the Battle of Lepanto. He was also Grand Commander of Castile in the Order of Santiago.
Biography
Youth
He was born in his parents' house, the old Minor Royal Palace of the Kings of Aragon, called the Palace of the Queen, in the City of Barcelona, in the rich chamber of the parament, and was baptized on August 28 in the parish of the same palace. Although his given name should have been Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens, his parents' marriage contract specified that he was to use first the maternal surname of Doña Estefanía de Requesens, Lady of the Town of Molins de Rey, of the Town and Barony of Martorell and of the places of San Esteban de Sasroviras, Castellbisbal and Castellví de Rosanes, instead of the surname of his father, Juan de Zúñiga y Avellaneda, second son of the Count of Miranda, in order to respect and perpetuate the maternal surname, which was related to the House of Cardona.
He grew up very delicate and sickly. On one occasion he was almost given up for dead, but his mother took him to the altar of Our Lady at Montserrat, where shortly afterward he began to recover his lost health. Juan de Arteaga y Avendaño, who had been one of the first disciples of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was appointed his tutor.
In the service of the Prince of Asturias
When his father was appointed governor (ayo) of Prince Don Philip in early 1535, Luis de Requesens was named the Prince's page, so that they received the same education, and he was designated to carry the Prince's standard throughout the time they remained together. As early as 1537, Emperor Charles granted him the habit of the Order of Santiago. Among other games, he ran at the ring and jousted with the Prince and his pages, through which his irritable and harsh character gradually mellowed.
In 1543, he was among those designated to accompany the Prince of Asturias at his wedding to Maria of Portugal, remaining with the newlyweds the whole time and taking charge of their household administration and custody. When Maria died after childbirth on July 12, 1545, the Prince, deeply grieved by the loss of his wife, withdrew for a time to the Monastery of El Abrojo, where Don Luis accompanied him as a friend and companion in suffering, at the same time making sure that he lacked nothing that might relieve the sorrows he was going through.
On June 27, 1546, his father died, and the Emperor therefore granted him the Grand Commandery of Castile in the Order of Santiago, which his father had held until his death. The body of the deceased was moved from Madrid to Barcelona, so he traveled to that city to be present at his burial, which took place in the Chapel of the Palau, which had been brought to completion thanks to the help of his mother, the wife of the deceased, in the form of supervising the works.
In 1547, he was once again designated to accompany the Prince to Monzón, but on this journey he went now with cape and sword. He was able to make this journey having recovered from yet another of the many illnesses he suffered, in addition to having received a serious wound. His mother suggested that, to better get through that bad period, he should go to the Court of King Charles I, who at that time was in his dominions as Emperor in the Holy Roman Empire; he therefore left the City of Barcelona on December 11, 1547, arriving at Augusta, where Charles I was at that moment, and who received him with all honors.
The King had to travel to his territories of Flanders, so he designated him to accompany him. On the King's arrival in his dominions, where his sister the Queen of France, Doña Leonor, was staying, among the entertainments lavished there was a series of festivities and tournaments among the various knights. In one of the tournaments, he brought out two companies at his own expense: one which he himself led, surrounded by knights who were friends and kinsmen of his, but riding light horses for skirmishing, while the other company was made up of servants dressed in the Hungarian fashion, which was a great surprise to everyone and much applauded.
He was always distinguished by his modesty, for when Prince Philip arrived, and despite having the King's unconditional support, Requesens would not consent to being named a gentleman of the chamber of his Prince. The festivities continued on the Court's arrival in Brussels. The Prince wished to joust with Requesens; he agreed but, since it was the first time he faced His Highness, at the moment of impact he raised his lance, so that the Prince did not strike him nor did he strike the Prince. A few moments later he was challenged again, and Don Luis did not know who was doing it, so this time he did not raise his lance, striking his opponent on the helmet; the opponent was unhorsed and, from the blow he received on falling to the ground, was left stunned. On removing his helmet, he realized he had been tricked, for the one lying on the ground was none other than Prince Philip.
Just on the day following the encounter with the Prince, news reached him that on April 25 of that year, 1549, his beloved mother had died in the City of Barcelona, so immediately, and with the King's consent, he set off for that city. While in Barcelona, on July 12, 1551, he went to receive the Prince, who was arriving by sea, accompanied by the Prince of Piedmont Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy; Requesens therefore placed his house, the Palau, at the Piedmontese prince's disposal, where he stayed while they were in the city.
In the service of the Emperor
Talk then began of his marriage, the chief candidate being the daughter of the Maestro Racional of Barcelona, but neither she, Doña Jerónima, nor her father Don Francisco Gralla y Desplá were very much in favor. Not so her mother, Doña Guiomar de Estalrich, and although the Prince intervened, there was such a family dispute that Requesens preferred to let the matter drop, and left Barcelona for Madrid. This all but obliged the Prince to set out for Madrid as he had, with the excuse that the King had already arrived in the capital, where a General Chapter of the Order of Santiago was convened; in it, and through the intercession of the Monarch himself, Requesens was elected as one of its thirteen knights, despite being only 23 years old.
In this chapter it was resolved that the King would hand over four galleys to the Order, and the Order was to maintain them for three years in perfect condition for combat; and if everything worked well, the arrangement would be continued. The contract (asiento) was drawn up, with the signature of the King and that of the Prince as Governor of Spain, and the whole chapter proposed the Grand Commander of Castile for the post of Captain General of those galleys, so the Prince then supplied him with everything necessary. Requesens accepted for two reasons: first, because it was the whole Order that had asked it of him, and second, because on leaving the Prince's household he wished to change his surroundings and knowledge, and the sea was not a bad choice.
For various and different reasons, in May 1552 the fitting-out of the four galleys had still not been carried out. For this reason, the members of the Order begged the Commander to go to the Holy Roman Empire, where Emperor Charles was, and inform him of what was happening.
He left Madrid for the Court on June 12, 1552, stopping in Barcelona to embark. Here he met Doña Jerónima, who finally convinced him, not without using all her charms, to marry her. Since the galleys had already left and only one frigate remained ready to sail in the port, the marriage contract was drawn up at midnight and shortly before dawn he contracted the marriage. Barely an hour later Requesens boarded the ship that was to carry him to Genoa.
From that city he went on to Milan, setting out to follow the King, whom he caught up with when the latter halted to gather the army that was to fight the Lutheran rebels of the Holy Roman Empire. With the King he went to Metz and afterward to Lorraine in mid-October, where the King was seized by his attacks of gout, so he left the Duke of Alba as Captain General of the army, whom the Commander of Castile followed in all the skirmishes and battles that took place.
At the Siege of Metz an epidemic broke out that caused heavy losses, and on Christmas Day itself, just after Requesens had taken communion together with the Knights of the Order, he was struck by fevers; the physicians even gave up hope for him. Before he had fully recovered, the siege of Metz was ended. This forced him to make a painful journey until he again reached Brussels, where the King already was, and he took the opportunity to discuss the matters of the Order with him. He set out again for Genoa, where he boarded one of the Duke of Alba's galleys, with which they returned to Barcelona. On the day after his arrival, his marriage was consummated.
Afterward came some inheritances that made him extraordinarily rich, for by the chances of life circumstances came about such that those to whom they fell had not fulfilled the conditions. Among them was the inheritance of the Duchess of Calabria, and to secure it he was obliged to maintain a series of lawsuits in which his opponent was the Count of Saldaña, eldest son of the Duke of the Infantado. He also won the lawsuit against the fourth Marquis of Oliva, so that in the end he too was the sole heir.
As, at the end of the Chapter of the Order of Santiago, Prince Philip embarked at La Coruña to go to the Kingdom of England and marry Mary Tudor, Requesens returned to Barcelona to finish getting his galleys ready. There was an incident in which his galley was boarded by the Captain General of the galleys of Spain, which for the first time in his life provoked his anger. When the matter had been clarified by the King himself, he resigned his command.
Ambassador to the Holy See
He was in Valladolid when he received a visit from Juan de Vega, then President of the Royal Council, informing him that the new King Philip II had appointed him Asistente of Seville. Although the post carried great honor and authority, Requesens was still resentful over the conduct of the general of the Galleys of Spain, and flatly refused to accept it.
In December 1561, he received a visit from Friar Bernardo de Fresneda, of the Franciscan Order and confessor to the King, who informed him that the Monarch had appointed him Ambassador of Spain to the Holy See, on whose pontifical throne sat Pope Pius IV. He was informed at the same time that he was assigned a salary of 8,000 gold ducats a year, plus another 10,000 as a one-time payment to cover the expenses of the journey. Despite so lucrative a post, he did not give his assent until he had obtained consent, after consulting his wife and his brother.
A few days later he again fell seriously ill, so he could not leave the capital until he had recovered. He set out on December 22, 1562, for Villarejo de Salvanés (Madrid), a town where he remained until Easter, and when it was over he set off for Valencia and from there to Barcelona.
The first galleys to sail from that port were those of the Order of Saint John together with those of the Duke of Florence. He embarked on the flagship of the galleys of Saint John, under the command of Captain General Don Juan Vicente de Gonzaga, who would later be Cardinal Gonzaga, and they reached Civitavecchia, from where they went to Bracciano. There his daughter fell ill, so his wife stayed to care for the girl, and he continued his journey, making on September 25, 1563, the solemn entry into the city of Rome that was stipulated for the representative of the Catholic King, which was the highest.
The main controversy he had to navigate was that of precedence in the sacred places to be occupied by the French and Spanish representatives, since after several confrontations that had come to violence, the Pope had yielded, giving preference to the Frenchman, to the great indignation of the Spanish legation. Luis de Requesens reported the facts to the King, and the King, as a sign of the most vigorous protest, ordered the ambassador to leave Rome, but at the same time to let the Supreme Pontiff know that the recall was not from the Holy See, but from his person. But Philip II, by private order, told him that on no account was he to leave the Papal States, and that he should therefore delay as much as he could, for he believed that His Holiness would not last long and he had to be present for the election of the new Pope, and for that he must not be very far away.
Requesens made the journey very slowly, but even so he managed to reach Genoa. While in that city he sent his wife to the baths of Luca, where she came close to death. Precisely because of this illness, of which he was aware, he had repeatedly asked the King for leave to return to Spain, and the authorization reached him just when he was in Luca.
Likewise the expected news reached him that the Pope was ill, so with great discretion he made his way toward Rome, but he approached so slowly that on his arrival the conclave had already been closed to elect the new successor to Pius IV on the pontifical throne. But he did not give up and set to work, demonstrating his great diplomatic gifts by being the one who most influenced the election of the Dominican and Inquisitor Antonio Michele Ghislieri as Pope, with the name of Pius V, who would ultimately be the driving force behind the Holy League against the Turk.
The King's satisfaction at this new election was so great that he confirmed him as Ambassador of Spain to the Holy See, and during his stay in Rome he managed to have matters discussed but always brought to a good end, so that both the King and the Pope were entirely satisfied with him. Of all the missions entrusted to him, the one he found most difficult was the trial to which the Inquisition subjected the Cardinal-Archbishop of Toledo, Bartolomé Carranza. It was decided that this problem should be resolved by the Pope as being within his competence, but for that he had to remove him from the custody of his King, which was not entirely to his liking given the trust Philip II had placed in him. He achieved it with the promise that the Pope would keep him imprisoned until the trial was resolved, with the deciding vote of His Holiness, but with the admission of the consultative votes that the King would send to the Pope.
Around this time the Captain General of the Sea and Viceroy of Naples, García de Toledo, arrived in Madrid; His Majesty saw that he was in poor health, which led him to decide to relieve him of his duties so that he might try to recover. He therefore appointed his half-brother Prince Don John of Austria as his successor in those posts, but since he was very young, he gave him Requesens as his assistant, being a person of his complete trust and knowledgeable in matters of the sea, which he was informed of by a document with the Royal signature, dated in Madrid on March 22, 1568. This document granted him the broadest powers. Meanwhile, at the Embassy he was replaced by his brother Juan de Zúñiga.
Because of his great gifts and capacity for command, as well as his seafaring skills, he was promoted and named Captain General of the Sea. Using his authority, he managed to organize naval forces that succeeded in preventing the constant raids to which the Barbarossa brothers subjected the coasts of the Spanish Levant and the Balearic Islands. Shortly afterward relations between the King and the Pope deteriorated again, which led Philip II to send Don Luis back to Rome, and in a short time he resolved the differences, restoring calm between the two powers. When this matter was concluded, the King again ordered him to return to his brother's side at sea, but before the galleys could be ready, the uprising of the Moriscos of the Kingdom of Granada broke out.
The Rebellion of the Alpujarras
Because of his proven gifts he was chosen by King Philip II as adviser to his half-brother Don John of Austria in the war against the Moriscos in the Alpujarras. For this, he also received the order to have several tercios of infantry transferred from Naples and Milan, so he once again had to leave his wife seriously ill. He left Rome on March 23, 1569, and embarked with the squadron in the port of Civitavecchia. Meanwhile, in Leghorn part of the fleet was being fitted out, made up of the galleys of the Duke of Florence, which were in the pay of the King of Spain. From Genoa likewise set out those galleys that could be gathered, belonging to several wealthy private individuals. In all he had 24 galleys.
On reaching Marseille, he again suffered fevers that once more nearly ended his life. For this reason they did not even disembark and resumed the voyage on April 18. They were caught by a tremendous storm that split up the squadron, so that his galley reached Mahón and the rest Sardinia. But two of them sank before they could arrive, four more were turned by the sea and struck broadside, while the rest managed to reach port in very bad condition.
On April 28 he reached Palamós and from there went on to Barcelona, embarked again and, sailing along the coast, they reached Vélez-Málaga on June 3. He then ordered his cousin Miguel de Moncada to place himself under the orders of Don John of Austria, who was in Granada. By express decision of Philip II, Requesens acted as Don John's mentor, and the latter was to follow his advice without departing from it.
At the end of this campaign, they returned to the sea, where Don Luis followed him as lieutenant general and with the same broad powers. He was entrusted with the preparation of the Spanish squadron and army that were to join the Holy League, this expedition being formed in the port and City of Barcelona.
Battle of Lepanto
During 1571 and 1572 he was the right hand of Don John of Austria, although in reality, and by a letter signed by King Philip II, what he exercised was the role of second in command of the Armada and tutor to the Prince. By secret instructions he was told that «by his qualities he combined prudence, good judgment, diplomatic virtues, seafaring experience in this sea and a respected noble status».
Father March describes with complete accuracy the mission entrusted by the King to Requesens, for a new document was received in the month of June 1571, which ratified that of 1568, which was very telling. This reaffirmation of the recommendations, which set out his responsibilities for the expedition of the Holy League against the Turks with complete clarity, stated that «everything that was to be dispatched in writing must bear the signature both of the captain general and his own», and it insisted even more in the enclosed confidential instruction, telling him that «everything he ordered and did must be in agreement, with Don John unable to depart from him in any way, and in the event that he should ever depart from his opinion, it empowered him to discreetly take whatever steps he thought fit to appeal to his royal authority, all of this without public demonstrations and keeping the consideration owed to the prince».
By another letter of June of the same year, 1571, he was designated as one of the three persons, together with Don Álvaro de Bazán and Don Juan Andrea Doria, who had to give their consent to the decision to give battle, but at the same time the order was maintained that the «captain general could not issue or sign any order without the prior review and consent of Don Luis».
At the Battle of Lepanto he fought with great vigor, and his very sound dispositions contributed enormously to the final triumph. He nevertheless kept such discretion and tact that he remained in the background, both in order to follow his King's recommendations and because of the fondness and affection he felt for Don John of Austria. When the battle was over, he directed the recovery of all the vessels possible, then ordering their repair, so as to begin with them an expedition against Tunis, which was carried out the following year.
The effectiveness of his command is reflected in the letter that, four days after the battle, Don John addressed to his King, in which among other things he told him «that he honored the Grand Commander but that he lived very unhappily, because of the excess of zeal and too great severity with which, in his opinion, he exercised his role, for the two of them dealt with the countless matters, which I do not resolve without him, and that he could do nothing more to please him except leave him the whole charge».
Of an affable but firm character, he was marked by his great modesty as a great virtue, which, together with his feelings for Don John of Austria, whom he considered the best of his friends and the greatest commander Spain ever had, led him even to conceal the extraordinary services he had rendered, always giving the credit for them to his good Prince.
It is said that his intervention was very important, almost entirely decisive, in having the image of the Most Holy Christ of Lepanto and several of the banners of that memorable encounter taken to Barcelona. Requesens promised the Virgin that he would have a convent built in Villarejo de Salvanés in her name if they won the battle. After winning it, construction of this convent began in 1573, and today it is presided over by the patroness of Villarejo de Salvanés, the Virgin of the Victory of the Battle of Lepanto. As a curiosity, the festivities of Villarejo are celebrated on October 7, the same day on which the Battle of Lepanto was won.
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands
After the battle of Lepanto, where the victory was a demonstration of wisdom and force of arms against those of the Turks, by express decision of Philip II he was appointed Governor of the State of Milan in 1572.
The following year he was entrusted with the Government of the Netherlands, relieving in command Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, the Great Duke of Alba, whose repressive policy and continual victories over the rebels had not succeeded in pacifying the country. Requesens received precise instructions for negotiation: he was to safeguard, at all costs, the sovereignty of the legitimate ruler of the Netherlands and Catholic orthodoxy. But all of Requesens's good offices could not prevent the continuation of the fighting, because of the bitter opposition of the rebels. Even before leaving for Brussels, Requesens published a general amnesty, the abolition of the Conseil des Troubles and the repeal of the alcabalas. But if this offer of goodwill found little echo in the south, it was entirely ignored in the northern provinces. Having arrived in late autumn 1573, Requesens had to resort to arms to impose his authority.
Although the important port of Middelburg had been lost in February 1574, Requesens won a brilliant victory over the troops of Louis of Nassau at Mook, in the Meuse Valley, in which two more brothers of William of Orange lost their lives, and he was able to subdue the southern region fairly quickly. This now seemed the moment to announce his policy of conciliation and pardon, but, lacking money to pay his soldiers, Requesens found himself in a difficult position. The King was sending enormous sums of money (in 1574, specifically, more than double that of the two previous years), but the expenses of the Army, which at that time numbered 86,000 men, far exceeded the economic possibilities of the royal Treasury.
Requesens was forced to seek an agreement with Orange through the mediation of Emperor Maximilian II. The talks took place in Breda. The governor was willing to withdraw the Spanish troops from Flanders, but on condition that Catholicism would be the only authorized religion; the Protestants would have a period of ten days to withdraw abroad. This demand made agreement impossible. The States of Holland and Zeeland, owing to new adherents to the Calvinist creed and to the emigration of others from the southern provinces, had a majority of the new religion and were not willing to accept that imposition. Moreover, Calvinism was fully identified with the nationalist cause and could not be set aside.
These negotiations having failed, Requesens resumed the fight with greater determination. Spanish troops under the command of Colonel Cristóbal de Mondragón, with water up to their necks and enduring the fire of the Dutch soldiers and sailors, who inflicted numerous losses on them, forded the shallows separating the islands of Duiveland and Schouwen and occupied a large part of Zeeland. But just when the Spanish had an outlet to the ocean and could cut communications between Walcheren and the south of Holland, a general mutiny of the troops broke out. On September 1, 1575, Philip II declared the suspension of payments of interest on the public debt of Castile, and the financing of the Army of Flanders was cut off. The troops were owed, in some cases, almost two months' pay, amounting to 6,000,000 escudos. New mutinies of the troops broke out, and for nearly a year military operations were paralyzed.
Owing to such an accumulation of misfortunes and the already evident weakness of his body, Luis de Requesens died in Brussels on March 5, 1576, dying as a true and fervent Catholic, attended by several physicians and clergymen. He was succeeded in the government of the Netherlands, plunged into chaos, by Don John of Austria.
His body was buried in the family pantheon in the chapel adjoining the Palau.
Marriage and children
As mentioned, he married Doña Jerónima Gralla on June 13, 1552, a marriage that was not consummated until the following year.
On September 27, 1557, his first daughter was born, to whom he gave the name Mencía de Mendoza, the same as that of the Duchess of Calabria, of whom, by Don Luis's design, she would be the heiress of her fortune and title. She married in 1582 Juan Alonso Pimentel de Herrera, 5th Duke of Benavente.
On April 19, 1559, his only son was born, who was given the name Juan de Zúñiga y Requesens, as stipulated in the conditions of one of the other inheritances.
Bibliography
- Cajal Valero, Arturo. Revista General de Marina. November 2006, pp. 601 to 608.
- March, José Mª. El Comendador Mayor de Castilla. Don Luis de Requeséns, en el Gobierno de Milán, 1571–1573. Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Madrid, 1943.
- March, José Mª. La Batalla de Lepanto y Don Luis de Requeséns, Lugarteniente General de la Mar. Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Madrid, 1944.
- Martínez-Valverde y Martínez, Carlos. Enciclopedia General del Mar. Garriga, Madrid, 1957.
- Ricci, Vittorio. La Monarchia Cattolica nel governo degli Stati Italiani. Il ruolo dei fratelli Luis de Requesens e Juan de Zúñiga. Francesco Ciolfi Editore, Cassino, May 2011
External links
- Portrait of Luis de Requesens with an epitome of his life included in the book Retratos de Españoles ilustres, published in 1791.
- Text adapted with the author's permission, who allowed its reproduction on Wikipedia under the GFDL license: Foro de Historia Naval de España y Países de habla española (registration required).
