Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens
Don Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens (born August 25, 1528 in Barcelona , † March 5, 1576 in Brussels ) came from the Catalan nobility and was a son of Juan de Zúñiga y Avellaneda (1490-1546) and Estefania de Requesens i Roís de Liori (1501 / 1504–1549), Baronessa de Castellvell i de Molins de Rei. Juan de Zúñiga y Avellaneda was the steward and tutor of the later Spanish King Philip II . Luís de Zúñiga y Requesens later took his mother's surname at the request of his parents.
In 1546 Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens entered the Order of Santiago. From 1547 to 1549 he stayed in Charles V's entourage in Germany and the Netherlands. In 1552 he commanded the Order of Santiago's Mediterranean fleet as captain general. From 1561 Requesens was envoy in Rome and influenced the French policy of Pope Pius IV. In 1568 he became an advisor to Philip II's half-brother Juan de Austria . From 1569 to 1571, they put down the Morisk uprisings in Granada. On October 7, 1571 Requesens took part in the naval battle of Lepanto as lieutenant general under Juan de Austria's command . In December 1571 he was appointed Viceroy of Milan. His government there was shaped by the sharp disputes with Carlo Borromeo , the then Archbishop of Milan.
Governor of the Netherlands
Philip II of Spain appointed Requesens governor of the Netherlands on October 17, 1573 . The Spanish king had seen the failure of his previous governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba , and was now hoping for new impulses from Requesens, although he hardly changed his royal guidelines for Dutch politics. A month after his appointment, Requesens arrived in the Netherlands and tried to come to terms with the insurgents. All insurgents who are ready to return to the Catholic faith should receive amnesty and impunity. The provincial states of Holland and Zeeland met in Rotterdam and rejected Requesens' offer. Instead, the provincial states demanded the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Netherlands. Requesens refused. After he had also demanded annual taxes of 2,000,000 guilders from the Netherlands , the fronts hardened again.
In 1574 there were 86,000 Spanish troops in the Netherlands. Philip II needed 1,200,000 guilders for the monthly maintenance. These costs significantly exceeded the income of Spain, including that of the American colonies.
On January 29, 1574 the Spaniards lost the battle of Reimerswaal (mouth of the Scheldt) against the rebellious Wassergeusen ; As a result, the previously besieged city of Middelburg was handed over to William of Orange on February 9th . However, on April 14, 1574 Requesens won a victory over Wilhelm's army on the battle of the Mooker Heide . Wilhelm's brothers Heinrich and Ludwig von Nassau-Dillenburg died here.
On April 20, 1574, the Spanish, Walloon and German mercenaries in Requesens' army began to mutiny due to the lack of pay. The mutineers moved to Antwerp , plundering and raping . Requesens could not stop the mercenary excesses. In order to be able to pay the outstanding wages, he negotiated with the Antwerp city councils, referring to the threat of looting. The city had to pay the Spaniards 500,000 guilders. Because funds of this magnitude were not liquid, the mercenaries received silk and valuable cloth as an alternative. Requesens pardoned the mutineers. On May 30, 1574, a thanksgiving service was held for reconciliation, followed by a meal and drink. The Antwerp citizens paid the bill. During this celebration, the Wassergeusen attacked the port of Antwerp and destroyed part of the Spanish fleet anchored there.
In September 1574, Ottoman soldiers captured the city of Tunis. The Spaniards thus had two theaters of war. On October 3rd, 1574 the Wassergeusen liberated the city of Leiden ; the Spaniards suffered a lossy defeat. Philip II then authorized Requesens to conduct peace negotiations with the States General. Peace negotiations began in Breda on March 3, 1575 . Spain again demanded the return of the Netherlands to the Catholic faith. However, the Catholics were promised the restitution of the property confiscated during Alba's governorship (1566–1573). The Protestants, however, should emigrate according to the Spanish idea within the next six months, and they should also be given a period of eight to ten years to sell their property in the Netherlands. As early as July 13, 1575, the negotiations ended with no results.
During 1575 Spain and England briefly approached each other. According to an appointment, the English Queen Elizabeth I had the English ports closed to the Dutch rebels. On the other hand, Requesens had to drive England's Catholic refugees out of the Netherlands. These English emigrants found a new home in Reims.
On September 1, 1575, Philip II declared the state bankruptcy of Spain. Despite this, Requesens began the siege of Zierikzee on September 28, 1575 . He also had the cities of Schouwen and Duiveland occupied.
At least Requesens apparently recognized the hopeless situation of Spain in the Netherlands. He wrote to his brother Juan de Zúñiga in November 1575:
The state bankruptcy “dealt such a blow to the Antwerp stock exchange that no one is considered creditworthy with it. I can't find a penny nor see any way the king could send money here. Unless a miracle occurs, the entire military apparatus will fall apart so quickly that I will most likely not have time to let you know. "
Requesens was recalled to Brussels in early March 1576 because of a mutiny in the Spanish army. On the way there he fell ill with a violent fever, the consequences of which he died a little later on March 5, 1576 in Brussels.
The State Council took over government affairs on a provisional basis until the arrival of the new governor in the Netherlands. The defenders of Zierikzee had to surrender on June 29, 1576, their city was sacked immediately after the capture by the Spaniards. The Council of State in Brussels lost control of its troops. The Spanish army, which now remained without leadership and pay, lost all discipline and plundered the Netherlands as a " Spanish Fury ". On September 4, 1576, an anti-Spanish uprising took place in Brussels; From November 4th to 6th, 1576 Antwerp was sacked again by the Spaniards. On November 5, 1576, the new governor Juan de Austria arrived in the Netherlands and immediately took over the official duties.
literature
- Albert W. Lovett: A New Governor for the Netherlands: the Appointment of Don Luis de Requesens, Comendador Mayor de Castilla. In: European History Quarterly . Vol. 71, No. 2, 1971, pp. 89-103, doi : 10.1177 / 026569147100100201 .
- Heinz Neukirchen : Geusen. "Better drowned than caught!" 2nd revised edition. Transpress - Publishing House for Transport, Berlin 1983, DNB 831171502 .
- Geoffrey R. Elton : England under the Tudors. Callwey, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-7667-0683-7 .
- Klaus Vetter : Wilhelm of Orange. A biography. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-05-000247-6 .
- Ilan Rachum: Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. Atlantis, Zurich sa (1988?), ISBN 3-7611-0725-0 .
- Olaf Mörke : Wilhelm von Oranien (1533–1584). Prince and "father" of the republic (= Kohlhammer-Urban-Taschenbücher. 609). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-17-017669-0 .
Web links
- Illustration by Frans Hogenberg from 1576: Ludovicus Requesentius Magnus… Capitaneus Gener. in Belgico ( digitized version )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Vetter: Wilhelm von Oranien . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1987, p. 140.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba |
Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands 1573–1576 |
Juan de Austria |
Guillaume II. De Croÿ | Margaret of Austria | Mary of Castile | Emanuel Philibert of Savoy | Margaret of Parma | Fernando Álvarez de Toledo | Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens | Juan de Austria | Alessandro Farnese
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zúñiga y Requesens, Luis de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Steward and tutor of the later Spanish King Philip II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 25, 1528 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Barcelona , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 5, 1576 |
| Place of death | Brussels , Belgium |