Andalusian independentist conspiracy (1641)
Encyclopedia
The Andalusian independentist conspiracy in 1641 was an alleged conspiracy
of Andalusia
n nobility
for Andalusia to secede from Spain
. The conspiracy was brought to an end in summer 1641 after the plans of rebellion were discovered.
The alleged architects of the conspiracy were Gaspar Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Ninth Duke of Medina Sidonia
, and Francisco Manuel Silvestre de Guzmán, Sixth Marquis of Ayamonte. It has been interpreted that their intent was to lead an Andalusian uprising against King Philip IV of Spain
and to install as monarch
of Andalusia the duke himself, a member of one of Spain's oldest noble families, the House of Medina Sidonia.
After more than three-and-a-half centuries, aspects of the episode remain unclear, and controversy about the conspiracy remains.
Because the conspiracy was cut short, the true motives and ideas of the Andalusian nobles remain less than clear. The traditional interpretation is that nobles seeking power for themselves united in a secessionist movement similar to the successful movement in Portugal
and the temporarily successful one in Catalonia
.
Another possibility is that they wanted to remove the king's favorite Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
from the government, to solve the economic crisis caused by Spain's ambitions in Europe, lower taxes, and hand back a healthier Andalusia to Philip. Their intent may have been a coup d'état
originating in Andalusia, but not necessarily independentist in intent.
Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, descendant of the duke and 21st holder of the title of the dukedom of Medina Sidonia, proposes yet another possibility: that there never was a conspiracy among these powerful Andalusian nobles, and that this was all a projection of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked by envy that the king's favorite felt for the Duke of Medina Sidonia: the Count-Duke was a member of the House of Olivares
, a minor branch of the House of Medina Sidonia. According to this theory, the Duke of Medina Sidonia never attacked Portugal, not because of a pact with his brother-in-law, the Portuguese king, but because of the weakness of the Spanish army on the Huelva
frontier, a mere 3,000 men.
Despite his immense family fortune, the finances of the dukedom went through a difficult period, requiring him to undertake numerous loans. The duke had run up massive expenses by his high style of living in the years before the death of his father, and had feted Philip IV with great luxury in 1624 when the latter visited the Coto de Doñana
.
Upon assuming the dukedom, Gaspar Alonso also held the military charge of Captain General of the Ocean Sea and Coasts of Andalusia , which made him military governor of the region from the Guadiana
to the Strait of Gibraltar
. In the exercise of these functions, he was called upon to fight against the 1637 Portuguese rebellion in the Algarve, led by the Duke of Braganza
(later John IV of Portugal
), who, in 1632, had contracted a marriage with Luisa de Guzmán, Gaspar Alonso's sister.
. He also took part in the fight against the rebellious Portuguese.
The plot for Andalusian independence cannot be entirely separated from the successful uprising that led to Portuguese independence. Certainly the historically prevailing view is that each supported the other. It would appear that the Marquis of Ayamonte advised his political cousin, John, Duke of Braganza, of the operation that was afoot to restore Portugal to the Crown of Castile, and that the Portuguese king offered his support to Medina Sidonia and Ayamonte to conspire, not so much against the King of Spain as against the Count-Duke of Olivares. Given the limited capabilities of the shattered army of Olivares, if the conspiracy had not been betrayed it could well have achieved its objective. The Portuguese uprising took place in December 1640. In summer of 1641, the Andalusian conspiracy was discovered. The closeness of the dates could hardly be more eloquently on behalf of the theory that there was, indeed, a conspiracy, and that it had Portuguese support.
The first Portuguese uprising began in August 1637 and culminated in 1640, suppressed by Margaret of Savoy, Vicereine of Portugal, Duchess of Mantua
, daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
and niece of Philip II of Spain
.
The uprising resumed in 1640, and the same Portuguese nobles who fought against the first uprising now killed Miguel de Vasconcelos
, took the vicereine prisoner, and crowned John of Braganza as king of Portugal at Évora
, establishing the House of Braganza
that would rule Portugal for the next two centuries. December 1, 1640, Philip IV and Olivares began to prepare for the reconquest of Portugal from the Ayamonte
frontier.
In Madrid
, the Duke of Medina Sidonia was named captain general of an army that was to attack the rebels from Andalusia. For that purpose, the duke traveled to Ayamonte, where he established his headquarters and gave orders to bring together, from various places in Andalusia, an army of ten thousand men. Nonetheless, the concentration of the army was carried out with excruciating slowness, even apathy, such as when the duke rejected the troops sent by García Sarmiento de Sotomayor, 2nd Count of Salvatierra, then the Assistante of Seville
, alleging that this army lacks various things that Madrid needs to provide. At the very least, this was a strange attitude. The assumption would be that he accepted only three thousand troops to garrison the border because his plan was not to attack Portugal, where his sister was now the queen. Doubtless his passive attitude was of no assistance to the pro-Spanish uprising within Portugal.
Suspicions began to form that the duke was intending an uprising of his own to separate Andalusia from Spain. According to the conventional view of the conspiracy the idea first came from the Marquis of Ayamonte, who was connected with the Duke through a series of contacts. The plan counted on the support of Portugal and the collaboration of the French
and Dutch
fleets.
Continuing to follow this same version of the events, the plotting led to many comings and goings over the Portuguese frontier, and grave rumors about Ayamonte began to circulate. In the summer of 1641, a special envoy from Madrid, Antonio de Isasi, intercepted a letter from Ayamonte to Medina Sidonia and sent it to court; the letter revealed the plot.
Others who gave information at court about the conspiracy were Fray Nicolás de Velasco and Fray Luis de las Llagas. There was also an incriminatory declaration by Francisco Sánchez Márquez, president of the Accounting Office of Auditors (Spanish: Contaduría Mayor de Cuentas), who said that while in prison in Portugal he had heard a conversation between Fray Nicolás de Velasco (who was posing as a prisoner to gain information) and a mason in the palace who heard it said by two servants of the Duke of Braganza that he was preparing an armada to conquer Cádiz
. Granted his liberty and returned to Castile
, he revealed all to the Count-Duke of Olivares.
Continuing the conventional view of the conspiracy: while Medina Sidonia an Ayamonte awaited notice from Portugal about the presence of a French-Dutch fleet to collaborate and begin the uprising, he was called to court. Playing for time, he excused himself citing reasons of health. The news from Portugal suggested the imminent arrival of the fleet. He took advantage of the days gained by the excuse to enter into contact with Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos
, his mother-in-law the Marquesa of Priego, the Bishop of Jaen, and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar Sandoval y Mendoza, Duke of Infantado, sounding out their views on a possible uprising. They refused to participate in what they saw as a cause already lost due to lack of support among the nobility, the failure of the popular masses to rebel despite supposed support from Seville
and Jerez de la Frontera
and a general malaise among the people, and the failure of the French and Dutch fleets to arrive.
Luis de Haro
, eventual successor to the Count-Duke of Olivares as the king's favorite, was sent from the court to Andalusia to find out how far-reaching the ramifications of the plot were, and to arrest Medina Sidonia. He traveled from Madrid to Córdoba in forty hours. There, he met with numerous nobles and received many messages. His impression was that the upper nobility were tranquil, but there was an inquietude among the lower nobility.
Advised of the arrival of this royal emissary and to avoid the scandal of imprisonment, Medina Sidonia left swiftly for Madrid, where he visited the Count-Duke and confessed his conspiracy, apparently taken in by the attitude of Olivares, who made him believe he would use all his influence to defend his life, his home, and his credit.
The Marquis of Ayamonte refused to come to court of his own accord, and was taken prisoner. He was brought to the Alcázar of Seville
and then to Illescas
, where he was interrogated October 6, 1641. He was interrogated again June 8, 1643 in the fortified Castle of Torremocha (Santorcaz), after which he was taken to Pinto
southeast of Madrid and finally to the Alcázar of Segovia
, which offered greater control and security. He admitted his guilt as a conspirator, but placed the primary responsibility on the Duke, who he claimed he would not have permitted to proclaim himself king of Andalusia and who he had supported only in the creation of an Andalusian republic
. After a lengthy trial, he was condemned to death and confiscation of his wealth and goods. The Duke of Medina Sidonia could do no more than to send 4,016 reales
by way of Luis del Castillo to the Alcázar of Segovia to make sure that his cousin the Marquis did not want for anything material.
It was recommended to the King Philip that the death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment and confiscation; the king acted accordingly, but in 1648, upon discovering the conspiracy of to make the Duke of Híjar
into the king of Aragon
the death sentence was carried out on the belief that the same forces were conspiring in Aragon. The Marquis was beheaded as a traitor December 12, 1648 at the Alcázar of Segovia as an example to others who would conspire against the centralizing power of Spain.
Attempting to rehabilitate his image, Medina Sidonia had the bizarre idea of challenging the King of Portugal to single combat
, summoning him to meet at the Portuguese border near Valencia de Alcántara
within a certain period of time. The Duke and his entourage traveled there and waited uselessly for 80 days, from October 1 to December 19, 1641.
Because of the Dukes great rank and fortune, Philip IV did not condemn him to death, but neither did he forget. He was exiled from court and never obtained permission to return to his Andalusian dominions. When he did so without permission, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Castle of Coca
. He was deprived of the Seigneury of Sanlúcar, which reverted to the Crown, and in 1645 was deprived of the title of Captain General of the Coasts of Andalusia, which passed to the rival ducal family of the Medinaceli
. He was also fined 200,000 ducat
s as a "generous donation" ("generoso donativo") to the king.
His natural son Alonso (or Alfonso) Pérez de Guzmán y Marañón was granted the right to the family name by serving the king at sea, although always far from Andalusia
, first as Corregidor
of Cuzco in Peru
, then as Captain General of the galleys of Sardinia
and finally as Viceroy of Valencia.
The conspiracy, which we can consider as a plot among the nobility, could not count on the popular masses, and their contacts seem to have been limited largely to the nobility, although at least one source says they were expecting support from the people of Seville and Jerez de la Frontera.
The weakness of the monarchy at the time was patent to anyone who chose to look. The rapid success of the Catalan and Portuguese rebels, the perception of widespread malaise, and the promise of help from abroad would certainly have encouraged the conspirators. But Medina Sidonia and Ayamonte were living in a mirage; in Catalonia and Portugal there was stronger popular support for independence movements than in Andalucía, where independence would perhaps have been more difficult to achieve, and may not even have been attempted.
Even in the delicate situation after the independence of Portugal and the Netherlands, the Catalan Revolt
and the economic crisis (caused by military expenses, failures within the royal administration, and even traitorous activity within that last), Olivares' astuteness was such that the conspirators could not avoid leaks. The Count-Duke ended the matter by calling the two leaders to Madrid.
An anonymous letter without an addressee in the Spanish archives says that the three who betrayed the conspiracy (Fray Nicolás de Velasco, Fray Luis de las Llagas, and Francisco Sánchez Márquez) received important benefits: the first 2,000 ducats and an honorable position in the Atlantic armada, the second a plaza de contador and a knighthood in a military order, and the third another knighthood and the position of veedor general (roughly inspector general
) of the army in Portugal.
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
n nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
for Andalusia to secede from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The conspiracy was brought to an end in summer 1641 after the plans of rebellion were discovered.
The alleged architects of the conspiracy were Gaspar Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Ninth Duke of Medina Sidonia
Dukes of Medina Sidonia
The dukes of Medina Sidonia are grandees of Spain, holding the oldest dukedom extant in the kingdom, first awarded by King John II of Castile in 1455...
, and Francisco Manuel Silvestre de Guzmán, Sixth Marquis of Ayamonte. It has been interpreted that their intent was to lead an Andalusian uprising against King Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV of Spain
Philip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640...
and to install as monarch
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of Andalusia the duke himself, a member of one of Spain's oldest noble families, the House of Medina Sidonia.
After more than three-and-a-half centuries, aspects of the episode remain unclear, and controversy about the conspiracy remains.
The questionable nature of the conspiracy
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and the temporarily successful one in Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
.
Another possibility is that they wanted to remove the king's favorite Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count-Duke of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor , was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform...
from the government, to solve the economic crisis caused by Spain's ambitions in Europe, lower taxes, and hand back a healthier Andalusia to Philip. Their intent may have been a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
originating in Andalusia, but not necessarily independentist in intent.
Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, descendant of the duke and 21st holder of the title of the dukedom of Medina Sidonia, proposes yet another possibility: that there never was a conspiracy among these powerful Andalusian nobles, and that this was all a projection of the Count-Duke of Olivares provoked by envy that the king's favorite felt for the Duke of Medina Sidonia: the Count-Duke was a member of the House of Olivares
House of Olivares
The House of Olivares is a Spanish noble house originating in the Crown of Castile. It is a cadet branch of the House of Medina Sidonia, originating in the sixteenth century. Historically, the house possessed the lordships of Olivares, Seville; Heliche; Albaida del Aljarafe; Camas, Seville;...
, a minor branch of the House of Medina Sidonia. According to this theory, the Duke of Medina Sidonia never attacked Portugal, not because of a pact with his brother-in-law, the Portuguese king, but because of the weakness of the Spanish army on the Huelva
Huelva (province)
Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva....
frontier, a mere 3,000 men.
Gaspar Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y Sandoval
The Ninth Duke of Medina Sidonia, the man accused of conspiring against Philip IV, represented the main branch of the House of Medina Sidonia, the leading noble family of Andalusia by virtue of their historical importance and vast fortune. He became Duke of Medina Sidonia upon the death of his father in 1636; at that time he was 33 years old and was married to his own aunt, Ana de Guzmán.Despite his immense family fortune, the finances of the dukedom went through a difficult period, requiring him to undertake numerous loans. The duke had run up massive expenses by his high style of living in the years before the death of his father, and had feted Philip IV with great luxury in 1624 when the latter visited the Coto de Doñana
Doñana National Park
-Conservation:In 1989 the surroundings of the national park were given more protection when a buffer zone was declared a natural park under the management of the regional government. The two parks, national and natural, have since been classified as a single natural landscape.In 1994 UNESCO...
.
Upon assuming the dukedom, Gaspar Alonso also held the military charge of Captain General of the Ocean Sea and Coasts of Andalusia , which made him military governor of the region from the Guadiana
Guadiana
The Guadiana , or Odiana, is an international river located on the Portuguese–Spanish border, separating Extremadura and Andalucia from Alentejo and Algarve...
to the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
. In the exercise of these functions, he was called upon to fight against the 1637 Portuguese rebellion in the Algarve, led by the Duke of Braganza
Duke of Braganza
The title Duke of Braganza in the House of Braganza is one of the most important titles in the peerage of Portugal. Since the House of Braganza acceded to the throne of Portugal in 1640, the male heir of the Portuguese Crown was known as the Duke of Braganza and Prince of Brazil until 1822, or...
(later John IV of Portugal
John IV of Portugal
|-|John IV was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1640 to his death. He was the grandson of Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, who had in 1580 claimed the Portuguese crown and sparked the struggle for the throne of Portugal. John was nicknamed John the Restorer...
), who, in 1632, had contracted a marriage with Luisa de Guzmán, Gaspar Alonso's sister.
Francisco Manuel Silvestre de Guzmán y Zúñiga
Francisco Manuel Silvestre de Guzmán y Zúñiga was Sixth Marquis of Ayamonte and a member of another branch of the powerful Guzmán family. Born in 1606, he was the holder of a poor seigneury with very limited resources. His prodigality had led to such a state of indebtedness that, since 1636, the administration of his income had been assumed by the Council of CastileCouncil of Castile
The Council of Castile , known earlier as the Royal Council , was a ruling body and key part of the domestic government of the Crown of Castile, second only to the monarch himself. It was established under Queen Isabella I in 1480 as the chief body dealing with administrative and judicial matters...
. He also took part in the fight against the rebellious Portuguese.
The Portuguese rebellion and the Guzmanes
Although the issue of Portuguese independentism is separate from that of Andalusian independentism, it is impossible to understand either without considering the other.The first Portuguese uprising began in August 1637 and culminated in 1640, suppressed by Margaret of Savoy, Vicereine of Portugal, Duchess of Mantua
Duchy of Mantua
The Duchy of Mantua was a duchy in Lombardy, Northern Italy, subject to the Holy Roman Empire.-History:After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Mantua was invaded by Byzantines, Longobards and Franks. In the 11th century it became a possession of Boniface of Canossa, marquis of Toscana...
, daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy
Charles Emmanuel I , known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630...
and niece of Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
.
The uprising resumed in 1640, and the same Portuguese nobles who fought against the first uprising now killed Miguel de Vasconcelos
Miguel de Vasconcelos
Miguel de Vasconcelos e Brito was the last Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Portugal, during the Iberian Union, in which both kingdoms of Portugal and Spain remained separated but united by the same king and foreign policy .He was in office from 1635 to...
, took the vicereine prisoner, and crowned John of Braganza as king of Portugal at Évora
Évora
Évora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of with a population of 55,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District....
, establishing the House of Braganza
House of Braganza
The Most Serene House of Braganza , an important Portuguese noble family, ruled the Kingdom of Portugal and its colonial Empire, from 1640 to 1910...
that would rule Portugal for the next two centuries. December 1, 1640, Philip IV and Olivares began to prepare for the reconquest of Portugal from the Ayamonte
Ayamonte
Ayamonte is a town and municipality located in the province of Huelva, Spain. According to the 2005 census, the city has a population of 18,001 inhabitants.-Location and history:...
frontier.
In Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, the Duke of Medina Sidonia was named captain general of an army that was to attack the rebels from Andalusia. For that purpose, the duke traveled to Ayamonte, where he established his headquarters and gave orders to bring together, from various places in Andalusia, an army of ten thousand men. Nonetheless, the concentration of the army was carried out with excruciating slowness, even apathy, such as when the duke rejected the troops sent by García Sarmiento de Sotomayor, 2nd Count of Salvatierra, then the Assistante of Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, alleging that this army lacks various things that Madrid needs to provide. At the very least, this was a strange attitude. The assumption would be that he accepted only three thousand troops to garrison the border because his plan was not to attack Portugal, where his sister was now the queen. Doubtless his passive attitude was of no assistance to the pro-Spanish uprising within Portugal.
Suspicions began to form that the duke was intending an uprising of his own to separate Andalusia from Spain. According to the conventional view of the conspiracy the idea first came from the Marquis of Ayamonte, who was connected with the Duke through a series of contacts. The plan counted on the support of Portugal and the collaboration of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
fleets.
Continuing to follow this same version of the events, the plotting led to many comings and goings over the Portuguese frontier, and grave rumors about Ayamonte began to circulate. In the summer of 1641, a special envoy from Madrid, Antonio de Isasi, intercepted a letter from Ayamonte to Medina Sidonia and sent it to court; the letter revealed the plot.
Others who gave information at court about the conspiracy were Fray Nicolás de Velasco and Fray Luis de las Llagas. There was also an incriminatory declaration by Francisco Sánchez Márquez, president of the Accounting Office of Auditors (Spanish: Contaduría Mayor de Cuentas), who said that while in prison in Portugal he had heard a conversation between Fray Nicolás de Velasco (who was posing as a prisoner to gain information) and a mason in the palace who heard it said by two servants of the Duke of Braganza that he was preparing an armada to conquer Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
. Granted his liberty and returned to Castile
Castile (historical region)
A former kingdom, Castile gradually merged with its neighbours to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain when united with the Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre...
, he revealed all to the Count-Duke of Olivares.
The conspiracy exposed
Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos
Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos, was a Grandee of Spain and a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece. He served as Viceroy of Valencia and of Naples....
, his mother-in-law the Marquesa of Priego, the Bishop of Jaen, and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar Sandoval y Mendoza, Duke of Infantado, sounding out their views on a possible uprising. They refused to participate in what they saw as a cause already lost due to lack of support among the nobility, the failure of the popular masses to rebel despite supposed support from Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
and Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera
Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, situated midway between the sea and the mountains. , the city, the largest in the province, had 208,896 inhabitants; it is the fifth largest in Andalusia...
and a general malaise among the people, and the failure of the French and Dutch fleets to arrive.
Luis de Haro
Luis de Haro
Luis Méndez de Haro, 6th Marquis of Carpio, Grandee of Spain, , , was a Spanish nobleman, political figure and general....
, eventual successor to the Count-Duke of Olivares as the king's favorite, was sent from the court to Andalusia to find out how far-reaching the ramifications of the plot were, and to arrest Medina Sidonia. He traveled from Madrid to Córdoba in forty hours. There, he met with numerous nobles and received many messages. His impression was that the upper nobility were tranquil, but there was an inquietude among the lower nobility.
Advised of the arrival of this royal emissary and to avoid the scandal of imprisonment, Medina Sidonia left swiftly for Madrid, where he visited the Count-Duke and confessed his conspiracy, apparently taken in by the attitude of Olivares, who made him believe he would use all his influence to defend his life, his home, and his credit.
Responsibility and punishments
After the interview, the Count-Duke showed Medina Sidonia's confession of culpability to the king, from which the chief notary of the kingdom selected written testimony. In it, he incriminated the Marquis of Ayamonte of having induced him into this course of action, while denying any intention of declaring himself king of Andalusia.The Marquis of Ayamonte refused to come to court of his own accord, and was taken prisoner. He was brought to the Alcázar of Seville
Alcázar of Seville
thumb|right|250px|Baths of Lady María de PadillaThe Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, originally a Moorish fort....
and then to Illescas
Illescas, Toledo
Illescas is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2006 census , the municipality has a population of 15830 inhabitants.- History :...
, where he was interrogated October 6, 1641. He was interrogated again June 8, 1643 in the fortified Castle of Torremocha (Santorcaz), after which he was taken to Pinto
Pinto, Madrid
Pinto is a town in the south of the autonomous community of Madrid, central Spain.Formerly, the belief was that Pinto sat on the geographic middle of the Iberian Peninsula, hence its name comes from the Latin Punctum, "point".-Limits:...
southeast of Madrid and finally to the Alcázar of Segovia
Alcázar of Segovia
The Alcázar of Segovia is a stone fortification, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the...
, which offered greater control and security. He admitted his guilt as a conspirator, but placed the primary responsibility on the Duke, who he claimed he would not have permitted to proclaim himself king of Andalusia and who he had supported only in the creation of an Andalusian republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
. After a lengthy trial, he was condemned to death and confiscation of his wealth and goods. The Duke of Medina Sidonia could do no more than to send 4,016 reales
Spanish real
The real was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century, but changed in value relative to other units introduced...
by way of Luis del Castillo to the Alcázar of Segovia to make sure that his cousin the Marquis did not want for anything material.
Rodrigo de Silva Mendoza y Sarmiento
Rodrigo de Silva Mendoza y Sarmiento , was 2nd Marqués of Alanquer, 2nd Count of Salinas, and Duke-consort of Híjar, through his marriage with the 4th Duchess of Híjar, Isabel Fenández of Híjar...
into the king of Aragon
Kingdom of Aragon
The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval and early modern kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain...
the death sentence was carried out on the belief that the same forces were conspiring in Aragon. The Marquis was beheaded as a traitor December 12, 1648 at the Alcázar of Segovia as an example to others who would conspire against the centralizing power of Spain.
Attempting to rehabilitate his image, Medina Sidonia had the bizarre idea of challenging the King of Portugal to single combat
Single combat
Single combat is a fight between two single warriors which takes place in the context of a battle between two armies, with the two often considered the champions of their respective sides...
, summoning him to meet at the Portuguese border near Valencia de Alcántara
Valencia de Alcántara
Valencia de Alcántara is a Spanish town near the Portuguese border . It is located in Cáceres province.Nuestra Señora de Rocamador is the most important church...
within a certain period of time. The Duke and his entourage traveled there and waited uselessly for 80 days, from October 1 to December 19, 1641.
Because of the Dukes great rank and fortune, Philip IV did not condemn him to death, but neither did he forget. He was exiled from court and never obtained permission to return to his Andalusian dominions. When he did so without permission, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Castle of Coca
Coca, Segovia
Coca is a municipality in the province of Segovia, central Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. It is located 50 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital city of Segovia, and 60 kilometres from Valladolid. Coca is known for its 15th Century Mudéjar castle...
. He was deprived of the Seigneury of Sanlúcar, which reverted to the Crown, and in 1645 was deprived of the title of Captain General of the Coasts of Andalusia, which passed to the rival ducal family of the Medinaceli
Duke of Medinaceli
Duke of Medinaceli is a Spanish noble title given to Luis de la Cerda y de la Vega on 31 October 1479, by the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon when the old title of Count of Medinaceli, awarded to his grandfather, Bernal de Foix, in 1368, whereby was transformed...
. He was also fined 200,000 ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s as a "generous donation" ("generoso donativo") to the king.
His natural son Alonso (or Alfonso) Pérez de Guzmán y Marañón was granted the right to the family name by serving the king at sea, although always far from Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
, first as Corregidor
Corregidor (position)
A corregidor was a local, administrative and judicial position in Spain and its empire. He was the highest authority of a Corregimiento. In the Americas a corregidor was often called an alcalde mayor. They began to be appointed in fourteenth century Castile and the institution was definitively...
of Cuzco in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, then as Captain General of the galleys of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
and finally as Viceroy of Valencia.
What failed?
The conspiracy—presuming, of course that it existed—appears to have failed because the conspirators could not pull together the resources and the allies they needed. The focus on external support—from Portugal, France, and the Netherlands—suggests a lack of internal support, despite the apparent malaise of wide swaths of Andalusian society at the time.The conspiracy, which we can consider as a plot among the nobility, could not count on the popular masses, and their contacts seem to have been limited largely to the nobility, although at least one source says they were expecting support from the people of Seville and Jerez de la Frontera.
The weakness of the monarchy at the time was patent to anyone who chose to look. The rapid success of the Catalan and Portuguese rebels, the perception of widespread malaise, and the promise of help from abroad would certainly have encouraged the conspirators. But Medina Sidonia and Ayamonte were living in a mirage; in Catalonia and Portugal there was stronger popular support for independence movements than in Andalucía, where independence would perhaps have been more difficult to achieve, and may not even have been attempted.
Even in the delicate situation after the independence of Portugal and the Netherlands, the Catalan Revolt
Catalan Revolt
The Catalan Revolt affected a large part of the Catalan Principality of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring effect in the Treaty of the Pyrenees , which ceded the county of Roussillon and the northern half of the county of Cerdanya to France , thereby splitting the...
and the economic crisis (caused by military expenses, failures within the royal administration, and even traitorous activity within that last), Olivares' astuteness was such that the conspirators could not avoid leaks. The Count-Duke ended the matter by calling the two leaders to Madrid.
An anonymous letter without an addressee in the Spanish archives says that the three who betrayed the conspiracy (Fray Nicolás de Velasco, Fray Luis de las Llagas, and Francisco Sánchez Márquez) received important benefits: the first 2,000 ducats and an honorable position in the Atlantic armada, the second a plaza de contador and a knighthood in a military order, and the third another knighthood and the position of veedor general (roughly inspector general
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
) of the army in Portugal.