Federico Spinola (1571–1603) was an Italian naval commander in Spanish Habsburg service during the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

Life

Spinola was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in 1571 and studied at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is t ...

in preparation for an intended ecclesiastical career. Instead he took service in the

Army of Flanders The Army of Flanders ( es, Ejército de Flandes nl, Leger van Vlaanderen) was a multinational army in the service of the Habsburg Spain, kings of Spain that was based in the Spanish Netherlands during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was notable for ...

under

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese ( it, Alessandro Farnese, es, Alejandro Farnesio; 27 August 1545 – 3 December 1592) was an Italian noble and condottiero and later a general of the Spanish army, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592 ...

. In 1598 he travelled to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

with a proposal to build up a fleet of

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...

s in Flanders that could be used to launch an invasion of England. Approval was granted, and a squadron of six galleys was placed under his command, which he sailed to

Sluis Sluis (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Sluus ; french: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 Janu ...

in 1599, establishing his base of operations there. A further eight galleys sailed from Spain under his command in 1602, to reinforce the squadron at Sluis, but only four of these made it to port. Two were lost en route in the

Battle of Sesimbra Bay The Battle of Sesimbra Bay was a naval engagement that took place on 3 June 1602, during the Anglo-Spanish War. It was fought off the coast of Portugal (then within the Iberian Union) between an English naval expeditionary force sent out with ...

and two more during the Battle of the Narrow Seas (1602). On 26 May the following year Spinola died in the

Battle of Sluis (1603) The Battle of Sluis was a naval battle during the Eighty Years' War in which a Spanish squadron commanded by the Italian captain Federico Spinola tried to break through a blockade of Sluis by Dutch ships under the command of Joos de Moor. After ...

, bringing to an end his experiment in adopting Mediterranean naval warfare to northern waters. A portrait of him was painted by

Federico Barocci Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and inf ...

in 1595, and a poem by

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora ...

memorializes his exploits.Francisco Ledesma, Cesáreo Fernández Duro, Cesáreo Fernández Duro, ''El gran Duque de Osuna y su marina: Jornadas contra turcos y venecianos (1602-1624)'' (Renacimiento, 2012), pp. 205–207.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinola, Federico 1571 births 1603 deaths University of Salamanca alumni Genoese admirals Italian people of the Eighty Years' War