Luis de Benavides Carrillo

Marqués de Caracena, Anonymous, 1636

Luis Francisco de Benavides Carrillo de Toledo , Marqués de Caracena , Marqués de Frómista (born September 20, 1608 in Valencia , † January 6, 1668 in Madrid ) was a Spanish general and politician. From 1659 to 1664 he was governor of the Habsburg Netherlands .

biography

Luis Francisco de Benavides Carrillo was the son of Juan de Benavides y Cortés, Marqués de Fromista, and Ana de Carrillo y Toledo, Hereditary Marquésa de Caracena. He made a career in the army during the many wars in Italy and Flanders between 1629 and 1659.

From 1648 to 1656 he was governor of Milan . In 1652 he captured the Casale Monferrato fortress . After Juan José de Austria's defeat in the Battle of the Dunes (1658), Caracena was nominated as his successor. After the Peace of the Pyrenees , Spain saw a period of relative peace. Despite this fact, governing was not easy for Caracena, since the various wars had meanwhile pushed the state to the brink of bankruptcy.

In 1664 he returned to Spain to take command of the Restoration War against Portugal, which after a series of military setbacks, most recently after the defeat in 1663 in the Battle of Ameixial near Estremoz by the same Juan José de Austria. Caracena's authority over the Spanish forces in Portugal was short-lived; he was decisively defeated by António Luís de Meneses in the battle of Montes Claros on June 16, 1665, which effectively ended the war of restoration in favor of the Portuguese.

After the defeat, Caracena was charged with treason and cowardice. He defended himself by claiming that the defeat was due to the poor condition of the Spanish army, the intrigues at the Spanish court and the lack of money. He was no longer considered by the Spanish crown for military tasks and died a good two years later (1668) of an illness.

marriage and family

Luis Francisco de Benavides Carrillo married Catalina Ponce de León Cérdoba de Aragón, daughter of Rodrigo Ponce de León y Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duque de Arcos , Viceroy of Valencia (1653-1645) and Viceroy of Naples (1646-1648), and Ana Francisca Fernández de Aragón y Cardona. The couple had two daughters:

• Ana Antonia de Benavides Ponce de León, 4th Marquesa de Caracena († 1707), ∞ Gaspar Téllez-Girón y Benavides (1625–1694), 5th Duque de Osuna , governor of Milan 1670–1674
• Maria de Benavides Ponce de León; ∞ Luis de Moscoso Osorio Mesía de Guzman Mendoza y Rojas, 8th Conde de Altamira, 1688–1691 Viceroy of Valencia

literature

• Louis Prosper Gachard , Caracena, don Luis de Benavides… , in: Biographie nationale de Belgique , Volume 3 ( wikisource )

Web link

Commons : Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Bernardino Fernández de Velasco	Governor of Milan 1648–1656	Giangiacomo Teodoro Trivulzio
Juan José de Austria	Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands 1659–1664	Francisco de Moura