Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona-Anglesola (31 December 1585 – 16 February 1635) was one of the main Spanish military leaders during the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, and the

War of the Mantuan Succession The War of the Mantuan Succession, from 1628 to 1631, was caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II, last male heir from the House of Gonzaga, long-time rulers of Mantua and Montferrat. Their strategic importance led to a proxy war b ...

Biography

His full name was Gonzalo Andrés Domingo Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona-Anglesola. 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 grandchild of his namesake

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1 September 1453 – 2 December 1515) was a Spanish general and statesman. He led military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars, after which he served as Viceroy of Naples. For his e ...

, ''the Great Capitan''. He initiated his military career under Álvaro II de Bazán in 1612, defeating the Ottomans at

La Goulette La Goulette (, ), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake of Tunis, Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...

. He later served with Pedro de Toledo Osorio in the War of the Montferrat Succession, fighting a successful campaign. During the

, he served under Ambrogio Spinola before replacing him at the command. He became one of the principal generals in the Catholic alliance along with the Imperial general Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, fighting in the successful battle of Wimpfen. From 1621 to 1623 he commanded units of the Army of Flanders in the Palatinate, and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, and defeated the Anglo-German Protestant forces in the sieges of Bacharach and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and the Dutch at Fleurus. In 1624 was awarded the title of the first Prince of Maratea by King Philip IV of Spain, and in 1630 he was awarded the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire by the Emperor Ferdinand II. From 1625 to 1629 he was

Governor of the Duchy of Milan The governor of Milan was a political and military office of the Duchy of Milan, the title of the representatives of the foreign sovereigns who held dominion over the Milanese area, substantially from the 16th century until the Unification of It ...

. In 1628 he took part in the

, but complained he had been given sufficient resources. When he failed to take Casale and stop the French invasion in 1629, he was called back to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and court-martialed. He was replaced by Spinola, who died shortly after. He was reinstated a few years later and sent to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1632. Here he conducted operations on the lower Rhine in the rear of the victorious army of

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

, but he was unable to prevent the Capture of Maastricht by

Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange Frederick Henry (; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from his older half-brother's death on 23 April 1625 until his ...

. He was recalled to Spain in 1633 and died at Montalbán in 1635, without having been married, and with no issue.

Trivia

He is also a character in the novel The Betrothed, where

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel ''The Betrothed (Manzoni novel), The Betrothed'' (orig. ) (1827), generally ranked among ...

describes the anger of the Milanese populace towards him, when he leaves Milan in 1629.

References

*Guthrie, P William. ''Battles of the Thirty Years War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635 '' Greenwood Press (2001) *Pursell, C Brennan ''The Winter King: Frederick V of the Palatinate and the Coming of the Thirty Years' War'' Ashgate Publishing (2003) *Black, Jeremy ''European Warfare, 1494-1660.'' Routledge Publishing (2002) *Lawrence, R David. ''The Complete Soldier: Military Books and Military Culture in Early Stuart England, 1603-1645.'' Brill Academic Publishing. * Josef V. Polišenský/Frederick Snider: ''War and society in Europe (1618-1648)''. Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1978.

External links

Zedlers Universallexicon, vol. 6, p. 652-653
*http://www.grandesp.org.uk/historia/gzas/cabra.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez De Cordoba, Gonzalo 1585 births 1635 deaths Spanish generals Military personnel of the Thirty Years' War People of the War of the Mantuan Succession