Alessandro Farnese

Spanish military leader and duke of Parma (r. 1586-1592)

• Born: August 27, 1545
• Birthplace: Rome, Papal States (now in Italy)
• Died: December 2 or 3, 1592
• Place of death: Arras, France

Combining prodigious military ability and political talent, Farnese came close to retaking the Netherlands for Spain before imperial distractions and drains on King Philip’s finances elsewhere combined to undermine his achievements.

Early Life

Alessandro Farnese (ahl-ehs-SAHN-droh fahr-NAY-say) had illustrious ancestry. His great-grandfather on his father’s side, for whom he was named, was Pope Paul III. His mother, Margaret of Austria , was the natural daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Two years after his birth, his father, Ottavio Farnese, inherited the duchy of Parma. Alessandro and his twin, Carlo (named for his maternal grandfather), were the only children of his parents’ marriage. Carlo died within a few months of birth, making Alessandro the only legitimate heir to Ottavio and a treasured only child to Margaret.

In 1556, to cement the alliance between his father and Philip, the regent of Spain, Alessandro was sent to Brussels to reside at the Spanish court. For the next nine years, until his marriage and subsequent return to Parma, Alessandro would serve as a hostage to his family’s good faith and would complete his education in the Low Countries and Spain. He studied for a time in the great university town of Alcalá de Henares, where his course of study, shared with his contemporaries the crown prince Don Carlos and his uncle Don Juan of Austria , was designed by his uncle Philip II. Although Alessandro and Don Carlos found a common interest in military science, it was his young uncle Don Juan who became his closest friend. The young Italian nobleman was well received at the Spanish court in Madrid and admired for his manners, linguistic ability, and skill in the military arts.

After the number of plans to ally the house of Farnese with other prominent families fell through, at length a suitable match was approved by his father and Philip II. In November, 1565, Alessandro married Princess Maria of Portugal. The bride was considerably older than the groom, and she was considerably more enamored of him than he was of her, but it proved a fruitful marriage, producing two sons and a daughter before Maria died. After the marriage, the young couple settled in Parma, where Alessandro found that the combination of matrimony and the quiet life made him restless. After much pleading and many frustrations, he received the opportunity to join in the Crusade against the Turks in 1571, serving under Don Juan.

Life’s Work

The campaign against the Turks gave Farnese a chance to demonstrate his military prowess and personal courage. He joined the expedition with three hundred soldiers and eighty-two knights from the duchies of Parma and Piacenza. Don Juan gave him charge of several Genoese galleys in the international fleet. Farnese acquitted himself well at the Battle of Lepanto, personally leading the boarding party that captured the treasure ship of the Turkish fleet.

After this great victory, which made Don Juan a national hero, life quieted down again for Farnese until 1577, when he was given command of the relief forces sent to assist Don Juan, now governor of the rebellious Low Countries. In the Netherlands campaigns of the next fifteen years, Farnese would establish a reputation for military genius and political astuteness that would outstrip that of his illustrious uncle. Farnese’s army reached the scene of the fighting in time to tip the balance in the Battle of Gembloux in December, 1577. Using a brilliantly conceived strategy, Farnese surprised the rebel army and triggered a rout that completely destroyed it. Farnese quickly became Don Juan’s best and most trusted commander, and when this revered leader lay dying in October, 1578, he appointed Farnese as his interim successor. Philip II made the appointment as governor of the Low Countries permanent.

Now in his early thirties, Farnese was revered by his men and respected by his enemies for his intelligence, personal bravery, and skill. As governor of the Low Countries, Farnese combined military genius with an effective diplomacy. Through organizational skill and the sheer force of his personality, he molded an army of disparate elements into an efficient fighting machine that struck fear into the hearts of the enemy. In particular, he was effective in his utilization of mercenary troops.

As a negotiator, he utilized the knowledge of the tensions and jealousies within the Netherlands nobility, gained both from his youthful experiences there and from intelligence from an extensive network of spies. He won defections to the Spanish side using a combination of persuasion and bribery, offered with the utmost delicacy and graciousness. That not only conserved men and money but also allowed Farnese to concentrate his forces on those towns still resisting. By these methods, Farnese became the most successful of Philip’s governors of the Spanish Netherlands.

Between 1579 and 1585, Farnese systematically reconquered most of the southern provinces, earning a place in history as the creator of modern Belgium. He reached the high point of his military success in the summer of 1585, with the successful culmination of the Siege of Antwerp. He seemed poised to complete his task of subjugating all the rebellious provinces until international politics, in the form of English aid, intervened in 1586. This aid stiffened Dutch resistance and turned Philip’s attention toward invading England, which he believed would secure England for Catholicism, perhaps gain for him the throne, and solve the thorny problem of the Netherlands once and for all.

Farnese played a major role in the preparation of the invincible Armada. Philip requested plans for an invasion of England from his greatest sailor, the marquis of Santa Cruz, and his greatest soldier, Farnese. Farnese’s original plan was for a secret operation ferrying some thirty thousand crack troops across the Channel in barges to link with an uprising of English Catholics. The marquis of Santa Cruz recommended a large fleet of five hundred vessels carrying sixty thousand soldiers, capable of defeating the English fleet. Philip’s plan combined parts of both. Spain would assemble a large fleet with Spanish infantry on board to escort an invasion force from the Netherlands to England.

Farnese recommended October, 1586, for the invasion, but delays in the assembly of the fleet in Lisbon made this impossible. By the time the Armada sailed in the summer of 1588, Farnese’s reinforcements were greatly depleted by illness and desertion after months of inactivity. Logistical problems and communication breakdowns between Farnese and the duke of Medina Sedonia, the Armada commander, doomed the invasion even before the defeat of the Armada at Gravelines and its destruction by storms as it attempted the circuitous voyage home.

After the Armada disaster in 1588, Farnese’s position in the Netherlands became progressively weaker. Spanish finances, stretched to pay for the Armada, were chronically inadequate to meet Farnese’s needs. His unpaid troops began to be hard to control. Worse, perhaps, Dutch resistance was bolstered by this clear sign that the Spanish were not invincible. Events in France, also triggered partly by the Armada, distracted Philip, with consequences harmful to the Spanish Netherlands.

The civil war in France had worsened, and with the assassinations of the duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine at the hands of Henry III, and Henry’s subsequent assassination in August, 1589, Philip saw not only a chance to defeat the Protestant forces of Henry of Navarre but also an opportunity to put himself or his heirs on the throne of France. To these ends, he put the Netherlands on the back burner and ordered Farnese to take an army into France in 1590 to relieve the Siege of Paris by Henry and the Protestants.

Farnese relieved Paris, but at the cost of a serious deterioration in his position in the Netherlands. While still struggling to regain control of the situation in the Low Countries, Farnese was again ordered into France in 1591, over his strenuous objections, to help the forces of the Catholic League. He succeeded in that, but the campaign cost him dearly, both personally and as a commander, as he returned sick to Flanders in 1592. He was ordered back to France in 1592 and died at Arras in December. At his death, he was unaware that Philip had sent an envoy with orders to replace Farnese and send him back to Madrid to face charges of defrauding Philip of the money sent to finance military operations in the Low Countries.

Significance

In spite of Philip’s ultimate distrust and rejection of him, Farnese served his monarch well, often at personal sacrifice. The demands of his governorship separated him from his home and family. He was unable to return to Italy when his wife died in 1577 or when his only daughter married. He became duke of Parma and Piacenza at his father’s death in 1586, but, unable to leave his post in the Netherlands, had to appoint his seventeen-year-old heir, Ranuccio, to serve in his place.

An extensive correspondence between father and son indicates a high degree of interest in the affairs of Parma despite Farnese’s major responsibilities in the Low Countries. Despite a growing weariness with the incessant war in the Netherlands, Farnese would not live to retire in peace to rule his inheritance. He died while obediently making one more march into France at the order of his monarch.

Bibliography

Bertini, Giuseppe. “The Marriage of Alessandro Farnese and D. Maria of Portugal in 1565: Court Life in Lisbon and Parma.” In Cultural Links Between Portugal and Italy in the Renaissance, edited by K. J. P. Lowe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Examination of the ties forged between the courts of Lisbon and Parma by Farnese’s marriage, as well as the differences between them. Includes illustrations, maps, bibliographic references, index.

Kuyper, W. The Triumphant Entry of Renaissance Architecture into the Netherlands: The Joyeuse Entrée of Philip of Spain into Antwerp in 1549 Renaissance and Mannerist Architecture in the Low Countries from 1530 to 1630. 2 vols. Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands: Canaletto, 1994. Extensive study of the architectural and cultural influence of Philip’s empire on the Netherlands. Includes an entire volume of photographic plates, as well as maps, bibliographic references, and index.

Lynch, John. Spain, 1516-1598: From Nation State to World Empire. Cambridge, Mass.: B. Blackwell, 1991. Addresses Farnese’s career in the service of Spain. Lynch takes a very positive view of Farnese’s character and abilities and is sympathetic to the constraints and frustrations under which he had to operate in dealing with Philip II. Extensive notes provide citations of mostly foreign-language sources.

Mattingly, Garrett. The Armada. Reprint. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. The most readable account of the invincible Armada. Mattingly highlights Farnese’s important role in the planning and implementation of the attempted invasion of England. Defends Farnese’s actions in preparing his army to invade England, seeing his lack of preparedness to embark his men in August, 1588, as a sign of his military acumen.

Merriman, Roger Bigelow. Philip the Prudent. Vol. 4 in The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and in the New. Reprint. New York: Cooper Square, 1962. Addresses the reign of Philip. Contains a significant amount of material about Farnese in all aspects of his service to the Crown. Merriman’s coverage of Farnese is less extensive and his writing is less colorful than that of John Motley, but his treatment of Spain and Farnese is far more objective.

Motley, John Lathrop. The Rise of the Dutch Republic: A History. 3 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1852. Reprint. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1950. Volume 3 contains extensive references to Farnese during his involvement in the Netherlands campaigns from 1577 to 1584. Motley has a strong anti-Spanish bias, but the work is useful because it is based on published narratives and documents from the period. Motley admires Farnese’s military and political genius, even though it worked against what Motley considers to be the forces of modernism and progress.

Motley, John Lathrop. The United Netherlands: A History from the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years’ Truce, 1609. 4 vols. London: John Murray, 1904. A continuation of the history of the Netherlands, picking up in 1584 where The Rise of the Dutch Republic ends. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 contain extensive discussions of Farnese’s service as governor of the Low Countries from 1584 to his death in 1592. This work has the same drawbacks and strengths as Motley’s other volumes.

Parker, Geoffrey. The Dutch Revolt. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977. A good summary of Farnese’s successes and failures in the Netherlands campaigns, based heavily on archival sources. Parker admires Farnese and ascribes much of the blame for his failures to lack of consistent financial support and leadership from Philip.

Schepper, Hugo de. “The Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands.” In Handbook of European History, 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation, edited by Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 1996. Essay discusses the political control of the Netherlands by the Habsburg Dynasty.