Pedro Álvarez de Toledo

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Pedro Álvarez de Toledo, by Titian .

Pedro Álvarez de Toledo , marqués de Villafranca , (* around 1480 in Salamanca , † 1553 in Florence ) was the Spanish viceroy of Naples from 1532 until his death .

Life

Don Pedro was born one of four children. His father was Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo and his mother, Isabel de Zúñiga, daughter of the Duke Besciar. The firstborn son was Don Garzía Álvarez de Toledo, a Spanish admiral. In addition to Garzía and Pedro, there was also the daughter Aldonza Leonor Álvarez de Toledo and another son named Juan Álvarez y Alva de Toledo , who went on the spiritual path.

Since he was more inclined to the active and secular virtues and less to the humanistic studies during his training time, he was raised to a secular nobleman, although he was intended for a church office. After completing his school education, he was married to María Osorio Pimentel, which gave him the title of Marqués de Villafranca.

Don Pedro served in the royal army from 1503. According to records, in 1512 he was supposed to be tangible during the conquest of Navarre and in 1519 he was in the entourage of Charles V. He remained in his immediate vicinity until he returned to the Spanish court in 1522 and in 1529 accompanied Charles V to Bologna for the coronation by the Pope .

Viceroy of Naples

After the first years of the system of the viceroyalty established by King Ferdinand II of Spain were marked by chaos and the first viceroys of Naples were unable to solve social and legal problems, Don Pedro Álvarez de Toledo became viceroy of Toledo in 1532 Naples appointed.

He found the city in a precarious state, not only because it had been ravaged by the plague twice, in 1529 and 1530 . Only in his person did a viceroy appear who was willing to take up the legal, economic and physical problems of the area. With his authoritarian and determined style of rule he was able to achieve this, but above all he made enemies among the barons: he subjected their actions to strict controls and weakened their role as a dispenser of right and wrong. However , during his visit to Naples in 1536 , Emperor Charles V was so impressed by Don Pedro's achievements that her request for Don Pedro's transfer was not granted by the Emperor.

Don Pedro then continued the reforms by, on the one hand , closing down cultural academies suspected of unacceptable religious practices, regardless of Neapolitan traditions . On the other hand, he set about urbanizing the city: He had numerous renovations carried out, such as those of the city ​​fortifications or the construction of a new palace for royal visits. These buildings, however, had to be paid for by the people through high taxes , which - combined with the ongoing problems in the viceroyalty - led to a series of revolts. A serious uprising took place in 1547. It could be suppressed, but since tensions remained, the Neapolitan delegation finally asked Charles V to intervene. He sent Don Pedro to Siena in 1553 to crush the rebellion there. The mission remained unfinished, however, as Don Pedro died on the way there in Florence.

His daughter Leonor (1522–1562) was the wife of the Tuscan Grand Duke Cosimo I de 'Medici and the grandmother of Maria de' Medici , wife of Henry IV of France. In 1553 Pedro de Toledo died while staying in Florence with his daughter Eleonore and his son-in-law Cosimo I de 'Medici.

Although his tomb and that of his wife are in the church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Naples, he is buried in the cathedral of Florence.

See also

Web links

Commons : Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Zúñiga  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ There are different statements in the specialist literature. According to the epitaph, Pedro died at the age of 73.
  2. ^ Adolfus W. Ward: The Cambridge modern history. In: 1. The Renaissance , Cambridge, 1907, table
  3. ↑ Martin Biersack: Mediterranean art transfer at the beginning of the modern age. The reception of the Italian Renaissance in Castile at the time of the Catholic Kings. , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2011, p. 219
  4. ^ "Martin Biersack: Mediterranean Art Transfer at the Beginning of Modern Times. The Reception of the Italian Renaissance in Castile at the Time of the Catholic Kings. , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2011, p. 220
  5. ↑ Scipione Miccio: Vita di Don Pietro di Toledo scritta da Scipione Miccio. , Volume 9, Archivio Storico Italiano, 1846, pp. 10-20
  6. ↑ Machuca Vargas: La Reale Pontificia Basilica di San Giacomo degli Spagnoli. R. Hermandad de Nobles Españoles de Santiago , Naples, 1991, p. 17
  7. ^ "Martin Biersack: Mediterranean Art Transfer at the Beginning of the Modern Age. The Reception of the Italian Renaissance in Castile at the Time of the Catholic Kings. , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna, 2011, pp. 271–275
  8. ↑ Scipione Miccio, Vita di Don Pietro di Toledo scritta da Scipione Miccio, Volume 9, Archivio Storico Italiano, 1846, p 91
personal data
SURNAME Álvarez de Toledo, Pedro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Viceroy of Naples
DATE OF BIRTH around 1480
PLACE OF BIRTH Salamanca , Spain
DATE OF DEATH 1553
Place of death Florence