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| - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel or Ferdinandus Toletanus Dux Albanus (29 October 1507 – 11 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba, was a Spanish noble, soldier, and diplomat. He was titled the 3rd Duke of Alba de Tormes and 1st Duke of Huéscar, 4th Marquis of Coria, 3rd Count of Salvatierra de Tormes, 2nd Count of Piedrahita, 8th Lord of Valdecorneja, Grandee of Spain, and an Illustrious Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Alba was a trusted adviser and servant of Charles I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) and his successor Philip II, both chief steward and member of their Councils of State and War. He was charged with the government of the Duchy of Milan (1555–1556), the Kingdom of Naples (1556–1558), the Netherlands (1567–1573) and the Kingdom of Portugal (158
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abstract
| - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel or Ferdinandus Toletanus Dux Albanus (29 October 1507 – 11 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba, was a Spanish noble, soldier, and diplomat. He was titled the 3rd Duke of Alba de Tormes and 1st Duke of Huéscar, 4th Marquis of Coria, 3rd Count of Salvatierra de Tormes, 2nd Count of Piedrahita, 8th Lord of Valdecorneja, Grandee of Spain, and an Illustrious Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Alba was a trusted adviser and servant of Charles I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) and his successor Philip II, both chief steward and member of their Councils of State and War. He was charged with the government of the Duchy of Milan (1555–1556), the Kingdom of Naples (1556–1558), the Netherlands (1567–1573) and the Kingdom of Portugal (1580–1582). He represented Philip II at Philip's betrothal to Elizabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry II of France, and to Anne of Austria, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II. Considered by Spanish historians as the greatest general of his time and one of the best in history, he is considered a butcher & criminal in the rest of Europe. Alba distinguished himself in La Jornada de Túnez, and in many campaigns during the Religious Wars, including the Mühlberg, Jemmingen and Alcántara. He is most remembered in Western European history for his brutal attempts to pacify, and eradicate sedition in, the Netherlands, where he suppressed and punished a Dutch uprising by murdering, raping & looting entire towns, sometimes leaving not a single child alive. He capped his career as an old man with the succession crisis in Portugal in 1580, conquering that kingdom for Philip II. Because of his military genius Spain achieved the unification of all the kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula and the consequent expansion of the overseas territories. The most important representative of the house of Álvarez de Toledo, received a Golden Rose of Pope Paul III as a reward for their efforts in favor of Catholicism. He was comrade in arms, friend and protector of the poet and soldier Garcilaso de la Vega, who spent part of his Eclogue II to extol to the House of Alba and Duke. His motto in Latin was Deo patrum Nostrorum, which in English means To The God of our fathers. He is an important component of the Spanish black legends, which describe him as an authentic warlord, famous and intrepid but at the same time, brutal, implacable and extremely severe. Still, Alba was a clear leader, tough, strong and respectful of his men. The speeches where he referred to "gentlemen soldiers" were the delight of the Tercios, his élite troops. He used to say "Kings use men like oranges: first squeeze the juice, then discard the peel." The life of the 3rd Duke of Alba was marked by a long series of military feats that contributed to Spain reaching its peak during the sixteenth century.
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