Gonzalo Andrés Domingo Fernández de Córdoba (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 ( 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 Refo ...
,
/sup> Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...
, and the War of the Mantuan Succession
The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War, caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo II, last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga ...
.
Biography
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 who led successful military campaigns during the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. His military victories and widespread po ...
, ''the Great Capitan''. He was one of the principal commanders in the Catholic alliance under the Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
general Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly ( nl, Johan t'Serclaes Graaf van Tilly; german: Johann t'Serclaes Graf von Tilly; french: Jean t'Serclaes de Tilly ; February 1559 – 30 April 1632) was a field marshal who commanded the Catholic League's ...
in the successful battles of Wimpfen
Bad Wimpfen () is a historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar.
Geography
Bad Wimpfen is located on the west bank of the Riv ...
and Höchst.
From 1621 to 1623 he commanded units of the Army of Flanders in the Palatinate, and Flanders
Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-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, ...
, and defeated the Anglo-German Protestant forces in the sieges of Bacharach
Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in Bingen am Rhein, although that town is not withi ...
and Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
and the Dutch at Fleurus
Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...
.
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. In 1628 he took part in the War of the Mantuan Succession
The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War, caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo II, last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga ...
. When he failed to take Casale and stop the French invasion in 1629, he was called back 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 ...
and court-martialed.
He was reinstated a few years later and sent to the Netherlands
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
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in 1632. Here he conducted operations on the lower Rhine in the rear of the victorious army of Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
, but he was unable to prevent the Capture of Maastricht
The siege of Maastricht was fought between 9 June and 22 August 1632, when the Dutch commander Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, eventually captured the city from Habsburg forces.
Background
Following upon his success of 1629, the capture ...
by Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange
Frederick Henry ( nl, Frederik Hendrik; 29 January 1584 – 14 March 1647) was the sovereign prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1625 until his death in 1647. In the last ...
. 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'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...
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
People from the Province of Córdoba (Spain)
Spanish generals
Military personnel of the Thirty Years' War