José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi, Duke of Saragossa (es

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, duque de Zaragoza; 1780 – February 15, 1847) was a Spanish

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...

 general who fought in the Peninsular War

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

.

Biography

He was born in Saragossa into an old Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

ese family.

Brought up at the Spanish

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...

 court, he entered the guards at an early age, and in 1808 as a sub-lieutenant accompanied King Ferdinand VII of Spain to Bayonne

Bayonne

Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...

; but after vainly attempting, in company with others, to secure Ferdinands escape, he fled to Spain, and after a short period of retirement placed himself at the head of the patriot movement in Aragon

Aragon

Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...

. He was proclaimed by the populace governor of Saragossa and captain-general of Aragon (May 25, 1808). Despite the want of money and of regular troops, he lost no time in declaring war against 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...

, who had already overrun the neighboring provinces of 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...

 and Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

, and soon afterward the attack

Siege of Saragossa (1808)

The First Siege of Saragossa was a bloody struggle in the Peninsular War. A French army under General Jean-Antoine Verdier besieged, repeatedly stormed, and was repulsed from the Spanish city of Saragossa over the summer of 1808....

 he had provoked began. Saragossa as a fortress was both antiquated in design and scantily provided with munitions and supplies, and the defences resisted but a short time. But it was at that point that the real resistance began. A weeks street fighting made the assailants masters of half the town, but Palafox's brother

Luis Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, 1st marqués de Lazán

Luis Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, 1st marqués de Lazán was an Aragonese officer and general during the Spanish War of Independence...

 succeeded in forcing a passage into the city with 3000 troops. Stimulated by the appeals of Palafox and of the fierce and resolute demagogues who ruled the mob, the inhabitants resolved to contest possession of the remaining quarters of Saragossa inch by inch, and if necessary to retire to the suburb across the Ebro

Ebro

The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain.The Ebro flows through the following cities:*Reinosa in Cantabria.*Miranda de Ebro in Castile and León....

, destroying the bridge. The struggle, which was prolonged for nine days longer, resulted in the withdrawal of the French (Aug. 14), after a siege which had lasted 61 days in all.

Palafox then attempted a short campaign in the open country, but when Napoleon's own army entered Spain, and destroyed one hostile army after another in a few weeks, Palafox was forced back into Saragossa, where he sustained a still more memorable second siege. This ended, after three months, in the fall of the town, or rather the cessation of resistance, for the town was in ruins and a pestilence had swept away many thousands of the defenders. Palafox himself, suffering from the epidemic, fell into the hands of the French and was kept prisoner at Vincennes

Vincennes

Vincennes is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.-History:...

 until December 1813. In June 1814 he was confirmed in the office of Captain General

Captain General

Captain general is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...

 of Aragon, but soon afterwards withdrew from it, and ceased to take part in public affairs. From 1820 to 1823 he commanded the royal guard of King Ferdinand, but, taking the side of the Constitution in the civil troubles which followed, he was stripped of all his honors and offices by the king, whose restoration by French bayonets was the triumph of reaction and absolutism. Palafox remained in retirement for many years. He received the title of duke of Saragossa from Queen Maria Christine. From 1836 he took part in military and political affairs as captain-general of Aragon and a senator.

He died at 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...

in 1847.