The House of Alba de Tormes ( es, Casa de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as the House of Alba, is a prominent
Spanish noble family that descended from 12th-century nobility of post-conquest
Toledo. The family's claim to
Alba de Tormes
Alba de Tormes is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The town is on the River Tormes upstream from the city of Salamanca. Alba gave its name to one of Spain's most i ...
dates from 1429, when Gutierre Álvarez de Toledo (of the ) became Lord of Alba de Tormes while serving as
Bishop of Palencia
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Palencia ( la, Palentin(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Palencia in the ecclesiastical province of Burgos, Spain. .
History
In 1472,
García Álvarez de Toledo, 2nd Count of Alba de Tormes, was elevated to the title of
Duke of Alba de Tormes by King
Henry IV of Castile
Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...
. In 1492, the 2nd Duke of Alba de Tormes signed the
capitulation of the city of Granada.
During the 16th century,
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, pt, Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a S ...
, was given the title of
governor general
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...
of the
Spanish Netherlands
Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the H ...
. The third duke's first cousin was
Eleanor of Toledo
Eleanor of Toledo (Italian: ''Eleonora di Toledo'', 11 January 1522 – 17 December 1562), born Doña Leonor Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio, was a Spanish noblewoman and Duchess of Florence as the first wife of Cosimo I de' Medici. A keen businessw ...
, who married
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Through her granddaughter
Marie de' Medici, Queen of France, she became the ancestor of many crowned heads and heirs apparent of Europe.
In 1802,
María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba
María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva-Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba, GE (10 June 1762 – 23 July 1802), was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter Francisco de Goya.
Biography
María Teresa, as she was called in he ...
, died without any issue and her titles were inherited by a relative,
Carlos Miguel Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Alba. Thus, the dukedom of Alba passed to the senior branch of the
House of Fitz-James Stuart, which took over the patrimony of the House of Alba.
From 1953 until 2014, the head of the House of Alba was
Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba
María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba GE (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014) was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain, as well as the most titled aristocrat in the world, a distinction now held by ...
. She held the
Guinness Book of Records title for the largest number of
noble titles, with 57 titles.
The current head of the House of Alba is
Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, 19th Duke of Alba, who succeeded his mother after her death in 2014.
['' Boletín Oficial del Estado'']
no. 143, p. 50250
16 June 2015 . Retrieved 28 December 2015. His father was , a younger son of the 9th Duke of Sotomayor. The family owns a significant collection of art, furniture and historic documents, mainly at the
Liria Palace
The Liria Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio de Liria'') is a neoclassical palace in Madrid, Spain. It is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba.
History
Built around 1770 to a design by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, it was commissioned by Jam ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
.
Treasures of the House of Alba
Retrieved 2017-09-06.
See also
* Duke of Berwick
Duke of Berwick () ''()'' is a title that was created in the Peerage of England on 19 March 1687 for James FitzJames, the illegitimate son of James II and VII, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland and Arabella Churchill. The title's name ...
* House of FitzJames
The House of FitzJames Stuart, or simply FitzJames, is a noble house founded by James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick. He was the illegitimate son of James II & VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland, a monarch of the House of Stuart.Ruvigny, ...
References
External links
House of Alba Foundation
{{in lang, es
The treasures of the House of Alba
Roman Catholic families
Spanish nobility