Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares
Encyclopedia
Don
Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count-Duke of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor (January 6, 1587 – July 22, 1645), 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. His policies of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to his major involvement in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) and his attempts to centralise power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts in Catalonia
and Portugal
which brought about his fall.
Olivares was born in Rome
in 1587, where his father, Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares
, from one of Spain's oldest noble families, was the Spanish ambassador. His mother died young, and his father brought him up under a strict parental regime. He returned to Spain in 1599, and became student rector at Salamanca University. By background, he was both a man of letters and well trained in arms. During the reign of King Philip III
he was appointed to a post in the household of the heir apparent, Philip
, by his maternal uncle Don Baltasar de Zúñiga
, a key foreign policy advisor to Phillip III, who himself had already established a significant influence over the young prince. Olivares in turn rapidly became the young prince's most trusted advisor.
When Philip IV
ascended the throne in 1621, at the age of sixteen, he showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all papers requiring the royal signature should first be sent to the count-duke; despite this, Olivares, then aged 34, had no real experience of administration. Olivares told his uncle de Zúñiga, who was to die the following year, that he was now "all" - the dominant force at court; he had become what is known in Spain as a , something more than a prime minister, the favourite and alter ego of the king. His compound title is explained by the fact that he inherited the title of count of Olivares, but was created Duke of Sanlucar la Mayor
by King Philip IV of Spain
. He begged the king to allow him to preserve his inherited title in combination with the new honour — according to a practice almost unique in Spanish history. Accordingly, he was commonly spoken of as .
Olivares' personality and appearance have attracted much comment, especially by 17th century writers, who were generally critical of them. He possessed a strikingly 'big, heavy body and florid face'. Contemporaries described an 'extravagant, out-size personality with a gift for endless self-dramatisation', others, more positively, have outlined a 'determined, perceptive and ambitious' personality. Olivares' enemies saw in him a desire to acquire excessive wealth and power. He disliked sports and light-hearted entertainment, but was a good horseman, albeit hampered by his weight in later life. Olivares did not share the king's taste for personally acquiring art and literature, although he may have helped assemble the king's own collection, and it was he who brought to Philip's attention the young artist Diego Velázquez
, in 1623. For himself he formed a vast collection of state papers, ancient and contemporary, which he endeavoured to protect from destruction by entailing them as an heirloom. He also formed a splendid aviary for the Buen Retiro palace, which lent him comfort after the death of his daughter but which opened the door for his enemies to nickname the entire Retiro the Gallinero, or the hencoop.
Velázquez painted at least three portraits of his friend and original patron, producing the baroque equestrian portrait
along with the standing portraits now at the Hermitage and São Paulo
. It is possible that other portraits by Velázquez commissioned by the king were destroyed after Olivares' fall — in a copy of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School, his figure was painted over — though a few minor portraits made in the conde-duque's last years of power remain.
. Olivares was concerned that Spain was too attached to the idea of limpieza de sangre
, 'purity of blood', and worried about Castilians' disinclination for manual work. For Olivares, the concept of Spain was centred on the monarchy and Philip IV as a person; unlike his French contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, Olivares did not elaborate a concept of the 'state' as separate from the person of the king. Olivares was inclined to see domestic policy as a tool in support of foreign policy - a common view amongst contemporary arbitristas, such as Sancho de Moncada and Jeronimo Zeballos. Like many other contemporaries, he had a keen interest in astrology
, and its potential impact on the world around him. Naturally, he incorporated that interest into political expression: he promoted Philip as "The Planet King" — the Sun, traditionally the fourth planet, was a fitting emblem for the fourth Philip of Spain — taking for his own symbol the sunflower. Whilst displaying huge confidence in his own capabilities and judgment, he also felt considerable 'doubt and uneasiness' over his position as chief minister to the king.
Olivares was well known for his passion for work. Early on, Olivares would rise early, go to confession, wake Philip IV and discuss the day's events with him, before then working throughout the rest of the day, often until 11 o'clock at night. Initially, Olivares would meet with him three times a day, although this declined over time until he met with the king only once a day. Whilst living a private life of 'spartan austerity' himself, Olivares was skillful in using the formal and elaborate protocol of the court as a way of controlling the ambitions of Philip's enemies and rivals. Determined to attempt to improve the bureaucratic Castilian system of government, during the 1620s Olivares began to create juntas, smaller governmental committees, to increase the speed of decision making. By the 1630s, these were increasingly packed with Olivares' own placemen, tasked to implement his policies. Olivares placed tight controls on the use of special royal favours to circumvent tight spending controls. The result was a very particular combination of centralised power in the form of Olivares, and loose government executed by small committees.
Over time, Olivares began to suffer under his tremendous workload, developing sleeping disorders
and, later in life, clearly suffering from mental illness. He became increasingly impatient with those who disagreed with him, flying into rages, and refusing to listen to advice proffered by his own advisers. His behaviour may also have been exacerbated by the severe bloodletting and excessive purging
he received from his doctors at key moments in his career. Olivares wrote extensively, although there are differences of opinion amongst modern scholars on his work: some find them 'forceful, incisive and persuasive', others consider them 'inflated and tortuous prose', wandering down 'interminable labyrinths'.
Olivares' first key decision came in 1621. Under Philip III, Spain had successfully intervened in the Palatinate in combination with the forces of the Emperor Ferdinand
, a fellow Habsburg
, during 1618-20, surrounding the Dutch provinces that had rebelled against Spanish rule some forty years before. An armistice had successfully held since 1609, but in his role as foreign policy advisor, Olivares' uncle de Zúñiga
had brought Spain closer and closer to recommencing hostilities as a means of improving Spain's negotiating position with the Dutch. Olivares's new influence was central to the decision to finally abandon the armistice in favour of renewed military action using the Army of Flanders
and economic warfare - attacking Dutch fleets and applying trading embargoes. This policy would ultimately fail over the next thirty years; to some the Spanish recommencement of the war has appeared 'surprising', whilst it can also be explained as a misreading of internal Dutch politics. Whilst the strategy itself was a failure, Olivares' tactics - his attempt to combine military and economic warfare - have since been praised as a 'shrewd policy'.
For the remainder of the Thirty Years War, Olivares would pursue a 'Netherlands first' strategy, focusing his resources and attention on delivering success in the Netherlands first, with the hope of dealing with the other challenges facing the Spanish across Europe once this key Spanish possession had been secured. For the first fifteen years of the war, this strategy proved largely successful. Spain made considerable early advances against the Dutch, finally retaking the key city of Breda in 1624, albeit at huge expense. In 1634, against the backdrop of Swedish successes across northern Europe, Olivares was crucial to the creation of a fresh Spanish army in northern Italy, and the projection of that force under the leadership of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand along the Spanish Road
into Germany, where the 'almost miraculous appearance' of the army defeated the Protestant alliance at the Battle of Nördlingen
. The scene had been set, Olivares believed, for a renewed attack on the Dutch.
Olivares' strategy ultimately failed due to the entry of France into the war. His handling of War of the Mantuan Succession
, which started to pitch France against the Habsburgs in northern Italy and would ultimately result in the French invasion of Spain, has been much criticised. By 1634 France, seeing the Spanish successes in Germany and the defeat of her Swedish allies
, began raising the political stakes, taking provocative military action on a small scale. In 1635, Spain responded by intervening against the Elector of Trier, a significant move that effectively forced a French declaration of war. By this stage in the war, Olivares' advice to the king was that this conflict with France would be for all or nothing - Spain would win or fall by the result. Nonetheless, French victory was far from certain in the 1630s; Olivares' invasion plan in 1635 involved four different armies and two navies, being described as 'the most ambitious military conception of early modern Europe.' Although Spanish forces were within 16 miles of Paris at the height of their success that year, Olivares' plan ultimately failed and Spain faced a massive counter-attack in 1637.
By 1639, Olivares was attempting to convince the king to compromise with the French but without success; he considered making a separate peace with the Dutch, which would have freed up resources for the war on France, but the Dutch occupation of Brazil and the Portuguese opposition to any peace involving relinquishing their colony made this impossible. The destruction of the Spanish Atlantic fleet at the Battle of the Downs
was another major blow, leaving a cash-strapped Spain unable to build a replacement force. By 1640, Olivares' foreign policy was creaking badly under pressure from an increasingly powerful France, with money increasingly tight.
, Aragon
, Valencia
and Portugal
, the autonomous provinces of Catalonia
and Andalusia
, complete with the wider provinces of Naples
, the Netherlands, Milan
etc. - all loosely joined together through the institution of the Castile monarchy and the person of Philip IV. Each part had different taxation, privileges and military arrangements; in practice, the level of taxation in many of the more peripheral provinces was less than in Castile, but the privileged position of the Castilian nobility at all senior levels of royal appointment was a contentious issue for the less favoured provinces. This loose system had successfully resisted reform and higher taxation before, ironically resulting in Spain having had historically, up until the 1640s at least, less than the usual number of fiscal revolts for an early modern European state. By the 1620s and '30s, however, the ability of the Spanish monarchy to extract resources from Castile was at breaking point, as illustrated by Olivares' early failiure to reform the millones food tax in Castile, and with war continuing across Europe, new options were necessary.
Like many contemporaries, Olivares was 'haunted' by Spain's potential decline, and saw part of the solution at least in a reform of the Spanish state. Olivares saw Catalan and the other provinces as paying less to the crown than they should, and did not really understand why the inhabitants should object to a fairer distribution of taxes. He was confident in the intellectual argument for a better defended, better ordered Spain, and never seems to have shown serious doubt that his plans would succeed, or understood the growing hatred against his rule. These plans took form first in Olivares' Unión de Armas, or 'Union of Arms' concept, put forward in 1624. This would have involved the different elements of Philip's territories raising fixed quotas of soldiers in line with their size and population. Despite being portrayed by Olivares as a purely military plan, it reflected Olivares' desire for a more closely unified Spain - although not, it is generally argued, a completely unified kingdom.
Olivares' 'Union of Arms' plan failed in the face of opposition from the provinces, in particular Catalonia, leading him to offer his resignation to the king in 1626 - it was not accepted. The subsequent years were challenging financially for Spain. in 1627, Olivares attempted to deal with the problem of Philip's Genoese
bankers - who had proved uncooperative in recent years - by declaring a state bankruptcy. With the Genoese debt now removed, Olivares hoped to turn to indigenous bankers for renewed funds. In practice, the plan was a disaster. The Spanish treasure fleet
of 1628 was captured by the Dutch, and Spain's ability to borrow and transfer money across Europe declined sharply. Faced by the Dutch capture of Brazil, Olivares turned to Portugal in 1637, attempting to raise taxes to pay for a mission to reclaim the Portuguese colony. The result was a minor Portuguese uprising.
The final years of Olivares' rule were marked by major uprisings in Catalonia
and Portugal
. Catalan histories have tended to represent Olivares as deliberately provoking the rebellion of 1640, in order that he could crush it and thereby unify Spain, although this is considered doubtful by most historians. Instead, it appears most likely that in the face of the increased French threat and the need to raise men, money and arms to defend the Peninsula, Olivares sent his army of 9,000 men into Catalonia expecting relatively limited resistance. Chaos ensued in the form of a major revolt; Portugal followed suit later in the year in the face of Olivares' attempts to convince its nobility to serve in the war in Catalonia, with Lisbon offering Philip's throne to the House of Braganza
.
and Portugal
proved the immediate factor, placing the stability of Spain itself in doubt, but other factors played a part. Olivares increasingly suffered from mental illness in his later years, and was no longer as effective an administrator as he had once been. He had also increasingly alienated the other Castilian nobility. His use of juntas - committees - packed with his own men, irritated many. Olivares was also largely blamed by contemporaries for the new royal palace of Buen Retiro, the huge cost of which appeared to fly in the face of the wider austerity measures Olivares had championed in the 1630s. 1641 had seen a disastrous bout of inflation
, causing economic chaos. More generally, the Spanish, who were too thoroughly monarchical to blame the king himself, held his favourite responsible for the numerous misfortunes of the country in the 1640s.
Olivares did not let go of power readily. He attempted to use art and theatre in the 1630s to shore up his waning popularity amongst the elite but without success, although he was able to overcome the attempts of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, whose family was a traditional enemy of the Counts of Olivares, to remove him from power in the Andalusian revolt in 1641
. By the following year, his situation was weakening as the Catalan revolt dragged on. Olivares' nephew and favoured successor, along with Olivares' daughter and young baby had all died in 1626, and in the absence of other children he chose to legitimate his bastard son, Don Enrique Felipez de Guzman in 1641. In doing so he had effectively disinherited another nephew and heir de Haro
, causing huge family tensions within the upper echelons of Castilian society. The king himself noted that it might be necessary to sacrifice Olivares' life in order to avert unpopularity from the royal house. The end was near, but the king parted with him reluctantly in 1643, and only under the pressure of a court intrigue headed by Queen Isabella.
He retired by the King's order first to Loeches
, where he published an apology under the title of , which was perhaps written by an agent but was undeniably inspired by the fallen minister. was denounced to the Inquisition
, and it is not impossible that Olivares might have ended in the prisons of the Holy Office, or on the scaffold, if he had not died beforehand of natural causes. His rivals felt that Loeches remained too close to the court, and he was moved onto his sister's palace at Toro
. Here he endeavoured to satisfy his passion for work, partly by sharing in the municipal government of the town and the regulation of its commons, woods and pastures. He died, increasingly consumed by madness, in 1645. The Olivares library was not preserved as he had instructed after his death, and his collection of private and state papers was largely destroyed in an 18th century fire.
The Count-Duke became, and for long remained, in the opinion of his countrymen, the accepted model of a grasping and incapable favourite, though this opinion has changed over the centuries. Olivares' personal reputation has traditionally been portrayed unfavourably, especially compared to his contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, a trend which began as early as the 18th century. Today it is felt unjust to blame Olivares alone for the decadence of Spain, which was due to internal causes of long standing. The gross errors of his policy, the renewal of the war with the Netherlands in 1621, the persistence of Spain in taking part in the Thirty Years' War
, the distracting involvement in the civil wars of northern Italy, the failure to spread the burden more evenly across the different states forming the peninsular kingdom, must certainly be shared by the King, the aristocracy and the Church but it is undeniable that, above all, it was the Count-Duke's policies and the Count-Duke's leadership which determined an ultimately disastrous course of events.
Don (honorific)
Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...
Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel Ribera y Velasco de Tovar, Count-Duke of Olivares and Duke of San Lúcar la Mayor (January 6, 1587 – July 22, 1645), 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...
royal favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
of Philip IV
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 minister. As prime minister from 1621 to 1643, he over-exerted Spain in foreign affairs and unsuccessfully attempted domestic reform. His policies of committing Spain to recapture Holland led to his major involvement in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) and his attempts to centralise power and increase wartime taxation led to revolts 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...
and Portugal
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...
which brought about his fall.
Rise to power
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 1587, where his father, Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares
Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares
Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera, 2nd Count of Olivares was a Spanish nobleman and statesman.-Biography:...
, from one of Spain's oldest noble families, was the Spanish ambassador. His mother died young, and his father brought him up under a strict parental regime. He returned to Spain in 1599, and became student rector at Salamanca University. By background, he was both a man of letters and well trained in arms. During the reign of King Philip III
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
he was appointed to a post in the household of the heir apparent, Philip
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...
, by his maternal uncle Don Baltasar de Zúñiga
Baltasar de Zúñiga
Baltasar de Zúñiga was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip III, his son Philip IV and a key minister in two Spanish governments...
, a key foreign policy advisor to Phillip III, who himself had already established a significant influence over the young prince. Olivares in turn rapidly became the young prince's most trusted advisor.
When Philip IV
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...
ascended the throne in 1621, at the age of sixteen, he showed his confidence in Olivares by ordering that all papers requiring the royal signature should first be sent to the count-duke; despite this, Olivares, then aged 34, had no real experience of administration. Olivares told his uncle de Zúñiga, who was to die the following year, that he was now "all" - the dominant force at court; he had become what is known in Spain as a , something more than a prime minister, the favourite and alter ego of the king. His compound title is explained by the fact that he inherited the title of count of Olivares, but was created Duke of Sanlucar la Mayor
Sanlúcar la Mayor
Sanlúcar la Mayor is a municipality in the province of Seville, southern Spain. The municipality is also the location of the Solucar solar power plant....
by 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...
. He begged the king to allow him to preserve his inherited title in combination with the new honour — according to a practice almost unique in Spanish history. Accordingly, he was commonly spoken of as .
Olivares' personality and appearance have attracted much comment, especially by 17th century writers, who were generally critical of them. He possessed a strikingly 'big, heavy body and florid face'. Contemporaries described an 'extravagant, out-size personality with a gift for endless self-dramatisation', others, more positively, have outlined a 'determined, perceptive and ambitious' personality. Olivares' enemies saw in him a desire to acquire excessive wealth and power. He disliked sports and light-hearted entertainment, but was a good horseman, albeit hampered by his weight in later life. Olivares did not share the king's taste for personally acquiring art and literature, although he may have helped assemble the king's own collection, and it was he who brought to Philip's attention the young artist Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, in 1623. For himself he formed a vast collection of state papers, ancient and contemporary, which he endeavoured to protect from destruction by entailing them as an heirloom. He also formed a splendid aviary for the Buen Retiro palace, which lent him comfort after the death of his daughter but which opened the door for his enemies to nickname the entire Retiro the Gallinero, or the hencoop.
Velázquez painted at least three portraits of his friend and original patron, producing the baroque equestrian portrait
Equestrian portrait of Duke de Olivares
The Equestrian Portrait of Count-Duke of Olivares is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished in 1634. It is housed in the Museo del Prado, Madrid....
along with the standing portraits now at the Hermitage and São Paulo
Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares (São Paulo)
The Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares is a 1624 portrait by Diego Velázquez , the most celebrated painter of the Spanish Golden Age...
. It is possible that other portraits by Velázquez commissioned by the king were destroyed after Olivares' fall — in a copy of Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Riding School, his figure was painted over — though a few minor portraits made in the conde-duque's last years of power remain.
Style of government
The royal favourite came to power with a desire to commit the monarchy to a 'crusade of reform', with his early recommendations being extremely radical. The heart of the problem, Olivares felt, was Spain's moral and spiritual decline. De Zúñiga and Olivares had both presented Philip IV with the concept of restoring the kingdom to its condition under Philip II, undoing the alleged decline that had occurred under the king's father, Philip III, and in particular his royal favourite, the Duke of LermaFrancisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma
Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma , a favourite of Philip III of Spain, was the first of the validos through whom the later Habsburg monarchs ruled. He was succeeded by Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares.-Biography:The family of Sandoval was ancient and powerful...
. Olivares was concerned that Spain was too attached to the idea of limpieza de sangre
Limpieza de sangre
Limpieza de sangre , Limpeza de sangue or Neteja de sang , meaning "cleanliness of blood", played an important role in modern Iberian history....
, 'purity of blood', and worried about Castilians' disinclination for manual work. For Olivares, the concept of Spain was centred on the monarchy and Philip IV as a person; unlike his French contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, Olivares did not elaborate a concept of the 'state' as separate from the person of the king. Olivares was inclined to see domestic policy as a tool in support of foreign policy - a common view amongst contemporary arbitristas, such as Sancho de Moncada and Jeronimo Zeballos. Like many other contemporaries, he had a keen interest in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, and its potential impact on the world around him. Naturally, he incorporated that interest into political expression: he promoted Philip as "The Planet King" — the Sun, traditionally the fourth planet, was a fitting emblem for the fourth Philip of Spain — taking for his own symbol the sunflower. Whilst displaying huge confidence in his own capabilities and judgment, he also felt considerable 'doubt and uneasiness' over his position as chief minister to the king.
Olivares was well known for his passion for work. Early on, Olivares would rise early, go to confession, wake Philip IV and discuss the day's events with him, before then working throughout the rest of the day, often until 11 o'clock at night. Initially, Olivares would meet with him three times a day, although this declined over time until he met with the king only once a day. Whilst living a private life of 'spartan austerity' himself, Olivares was skillful in using the formal and elaborate protocol of the court as a way of controlling the ambitions of Philip's enemies and rivals. Determined to attempt to improve the bureaucratic Castilian system of government, during the 1620s Olivares began to create juntas, smaller governmental committees, to increase the speed of decision making. By the 1630s, these were increasingly packed with Olivares' own placemen, tasked to implement his policies. Olivares placed tight controls on the use of special royal favours to circumvent tight spending controls. The result was a very particular combination of centralised power in the form of Olivares, and loose government executed by small committees.
Over time, Olivares began to suffer under his tremendous workload, developing sleeping disorders
Sleep disorder
A sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning...
and, later in life, clearly suffering from mental illness. He became increasingly impatient with those who disagreed with him, flying into rages, and refusing to listen to advice proffered by his own advisers. His behaviour may also have been exacerbated by the severe bloodletting and excessive purging
Medieval medicine
Medieval medicine in Western Europe was composed of a mixture of existing ideas from antiquity, spiritual influences and what Claude Lévi-Strauss identifies as the "shamanistic complex" and "social consensus." In this era, there was no tradition of scientific medicine, and observations went...
he received from his doctors at key moments in his career. Olivares wrote extensively, although there are differences of opinion amongst modern scholars on his work: some find them 'forceful, incisive and persuasive', others consider them 'inflated and tortuous prose', wandering down 'interminable labyrinths'.
Foreign policies
For twenty-two years Olivares directed Spain's foreign policy. It was a period of constant war, and finally of disaster abroad and of rebellion at home. Olivares' foreign policy was based around his assessment that Philip IV was surrounded by jealous rivals across Europe, who wished to attack his position as a champion of the Catholic Church; in particular, Olivares saw the rebellious Dutch as a key enemy. Although Olivares made much of religion as a facet of Spain's foreign policy, in practice he often overruled that principle. It has also been argued that Olivares' dislike of flamboyant spending may have influenced his views of the Dutch republic, known for its relatively open show of wealth.Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
, a fellow Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
, during 1618-20, surrounding the Dutch provinces that had rebelled against Spanish rule some forty years before. An armistice had successfully held since 1609, but in his role as foreign policy advisor, Olivares' uncle de Zúñiga
Baltasar de Zúñiga
Baltasar de Zúñiga was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip III, his son Philip IV and a key minister in two Spanish governments...
had brought Spain closer and closer to recommencing hostilities as a means of improving Spain's negotiating position with the Dutch. Olivares's new influence was central to the decision to finally abandon the armistice in favour of renewed military action using the Army of Flanders
Army of Flanders
The Army of Flanders was a Spanish Habsburg army based in the Netherlands during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was notable for being the longest standing army of the period, being in continuous service from 1567 until its disestablishment in 1706...
and economic warfare - attacking Dutch fleets and applying trading embargoes. This policy would ultimately fail over the next thirty years; to some the Spanish recommencement of the war has appeared 'surprising', whilst it can also be explained as a misreading of internal Dutch politics. Whilst the strategy itself was a failure, Olivares' tactics - his attempt to combine military and economic warfare - have since been praised as a 'shrewd policy'.
For the remainder of the Thirty Years War, Olivares would pursue a 'Netherlands first' strategy, focusing his resources and attention on delivering success in the Netherlands first, with the hope of dealing with the other challenges facing the Spanish across Europe once this key Spanish possession had been secured. For the first fifteen years of the war, this strategy proved largely successful. Spain made considerable early advances against the Dutch, finally retaking the key city of Breda in 1624, albeit at huge expense. In 1634, against the backdrop of Swedish successes across northern Europe, Olivares was crucial to the creation of a fresh Spanish army in northern Italy, and the projection of that force under the leadership of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand along the Spanish Road
Spanish Road
The "Spanish Road" was a military supply/trade route used from 1567–1620, which stretched from Northern Italy to the Low Countries. It crossed through relatively neutral territory, and was therefore Europe's most preferred military route...
into Germany, where the 'almost miraculous appearance' of the army defeated the Protestant alliance at the Battle of Nördlingen
Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
The Battle of Nördlingen was fought on 27 August or 6 September , 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. The Roman Catholic Imperial army, bolstered by 18,000 Spanish and Italian soldiers, won a crushing victory over the combined Protestant armies of Sweden and their German-Protestant allies .After...
. The scene had been set, Olivares believed, for a renewed attack on the Dutch.
Olivares' strategy ultimately failed due to the entry of France into the war. His handling of War of the Mantuan Succession
War of the Mantuan Succession
The War of the Mantuan Succession was a peripheral part of the Thirty Years' War. Its casus belli was the extinction of the direct male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627. Brothers Francesco IV , Ferdinando and Vincenzo II , the last three dukes of Gonzaga, had all died leaving no...
, which started to pitch France against the Habsburgs in northern Italy and would ultimately result in the French invasion of Spain, has been much criticised. By 1634 France, seeing the Spanish successes in Germany and the defeat of her Swedish allies
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
, began raising the political stakes, taking provocative military action on a small scale. In 1635, Spain responded by intervening against the Elector of Trier, a significant move that effectively forced a French declaration of war. By this stage in the war, Olivares' advice to the king was that this conflict with France would be for all or nothing - Spain would win or fall by the result. Nonetheless, French victory was far from certain in the 1630s; Olivares' invasion plan in 1635 involved four different armies and two navies, being described as 'the most ambitious military conception of early modern Europe.' Although Spanish forces were within 16 miles of Paris at the height of their success that year, Olivares' plan ultimately failed and Spain faced a massive counter-attack in 1637.
By 1639, Olivares was attempting to convince the king to compromise with the French but without success; he considered making a separate peace with the Dutch, which would have freed up resources for the war on France, but the Dutch occupation of Brazil and the Portuguese opposition to any peace involving relinquishing their colony made this impossible. The destruction of the Spanish Atlantic fleet at the Battle of the Downs
Battle of the Downs
The naval Battle of the Downs took place on 31 October 1639 , during the Eighty Years' War, and was a decisive defeat of the Spanish, commanded by Admiral Antonio de Oquendo, by the United Provinces, commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp.- Background :The entry of France in the Thirty...
was another major blow, leaving a cash-strapped Spain unable to build a replacement force. By 1640, Olivares' foreign policy was creaking badly under pressure from an increasingly powerful France, with money increasingly tight.
Domestic policies
Olivares approached the problem of domestic policy through the prism of foreign affairs. Spain in the early 17th century was a collection of possessions - the kingdoms of CastileKingdom of Castile
Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
, 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...
, Valencia
Kingdom of Valencia
The Kingdom of Valencia , located in the eastern shore of the Iberian Peninsula, was one of the component realms of the Crown of Aragon. When the Crown of Aragon merged by dynastic union with the Crown of Castile to form the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Valencia became a component realm of the...
and Portugal
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...
, the autonomous 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 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...
, complete with the wider provinces of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, the Netherlands, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
etc. - all loosely joined together through the institution of the Castile monarchy and the person of Philip IV. Each part had different taxation, privileges and military arrangements; in practice, the level of taxation in many of the more peripheral provinces was less than in Castile, but the privileged position of the Castilian nobility at all senior levels of royal appointment was a contentious issue for the less favoured provinces. This loose system had successfully resisted reform and higher taxation before, ironically resulting in Spain having had historically, up until the 1640s at least, less than the usual number of fiscal revolts for an early modern European state. By the 1620s and '30s, however, the ability of the Spanish monarchy to extract resources from Castile was at breaking point, as illustrated by Olivares' early failiure to reform the millones food tax in Castile, and with war continuing across Europe, new options were necessary.
Olivares' 'Union of Arms' plan failed in the face of opposition from the provinces, in particular Catalonia, leading him to offer his resignation to the king in 1626 - it was not accepted. The subsequent years were challenging financially for Spain. in 1627, Olivares attempted to deal with the problem of Philip's Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
bankers - who had proved uncooperative in recent years - by declaring a state bankruptcy. With the Genoese debt now removed, Olivares hoped to turn to indigenous bankers for renewed funds. In practice, the plan was a disaster. The Spanish treasure fleet
Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleets was a convoy system adopted by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790...
of 1628 was captured by the Dutch, and Spain's ability to borrow and transfer money across Europe declined sharply. Faced by the Dutch capture of Brazil, Olivares turned to Portugal in 1637, attempting to raise taxes to pay for a mission to reclaim the Portuguese colony. The result was a minor Portuguese uprising.
The final years of Olivares' rule were marked by major uprisings in Catalonia
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 Portugal
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...
. Catalan histories have tended to represent Olivares as deliberately provoking the rebellion of 1640, in order that he could crush it and thereby unify Spain, although this is considered doubtful by most historians. Instead, it appears most likely that in the face of the increased French threat and the need to raise men, money and arms to defend the Peninsula, Olivares sent his army of 9,000 men into Catalonia expecting relatively limited resistance. Chaos ensued in the form of a major revolt; Portugal followed suit later in the year in the face of Olivares' attempts to convince its nobility to serve in the war in Catalonia, with Lisbon offering Philip's throne to 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...
.
Fall from power
Olivares' fall from power occurred for several reasons. The revolts in CataloniaCatalonia
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 Portugal
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...
proved the immediate factor, placing the stability of Spain itself in doubt, but other factors played a part. Olivares increasingly suffered from mental illness in his later years, and was no longer as effective an administrator as he had once been. He had also increasingly alienated the other Castilian nobility. His use of juntas - committees - packed with his own men, irritated many. Olivares was also largely blamed by contemporaries for the new royal palace of Buen Retiro, the huge cost of which appeared to fly in the face of the wider austerity measures Olivares had championed in the 1630s. 1641 had seen a disastrous bout of inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, causing economic chaos. More generally, the Spanish, who were too thoroughly monarchical to blame the king himself, held his favourite responsible for the numerous misfortunes of the country in the 1640s.
Olivares did not let go of power readily. He attempted to use art and theatre in the 1630s to shore up his waning popularity amongst the elite but without success, although he was able to overcome the attempts of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, whose family was a traditional enemy of the Counts of Olivares, to remove him from power in the Andalusian revolt in 1641
Andalusian independentist conspiracy (1641)
The Andalusian independentist conspiracy in 1641 was an alleged conspiracy of Andalusian nobility for Andalusia to secede from Spain. The conspiracy was brought to an end in summer 1641 after the plans of rebellion were discovered....
. By the following year, his situation was weakening as the Catalan revolt dragged on. Olivares' nephew and favoured successor, along with Olivares' daughter and young baby had all died in 1626, and in the absence of other children he chose to legitimate his bastard son, Don Enrique Felipez de Guzman in 1641. In doing so he had effectively disinherited another nephew and heir de Haro
Luis de Haro
Luis Méndez de Haro, 6th Marquis of Carpio, Grandee of Spain, , , was a Spanish nobleman, political figure and general....
, causing huge family tensions within the upper echelons of Castilian society. The king himself noted that it might be necessary to sacrifice Olivares' life in order to avert unpopularity from the royal house. The end was near, but the king parted with him reluctantly in 1643, and only under the pressure of a court intrigue headed by Queen Isabella.
He retired by the King's order first to Loeches
Loeches
Loeches is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain....
, where he published an apology under the title of , which was perhaps written by an agent but was undeniably inspired by the fallen minister. was denounced to the Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
, and it is not impossible that Olivares might have ended in the prisons of the Holy Office, or on the scaffold, if he had not died beforehand of natural causes. His rivals felt that Loeches remained too close to the court, and he was moved onto his sister's palace at Toro
Toro, Zamora
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 meters....
. Here he endeavoured to satisfy his passion for work, partly by sharing in the municipal government of the town and the regulation of its commons, woods and pastures. He died, increasingly consumed by madness, in 1645. The Olivares library was not preserved as he had instructed after his death, and his collection of private and state papers was largely destroyed in an 18th century fire.
The Count-Duke became, and for long remained, in the opinion of his countrymen, the accepted model of a grasping and incapable favourite, though this opinion has changed over the centuries. Olivares' personal reputation has traditionally been portrayed unfavourably, especially compared to his contemporary Cardinal Richelieu, a trend which began as early as the 18th century. Today it is felt unjust to blame Olivares alone for the decadence of Spain, which was due to internal causes of long standing. The gross errors of his policy, the renewal of the war with the Netherlands in 1621, the persistence of Spain in taking part in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, the distracting involvement in the civil wars of northern Italy, the failure to spread the burden more evenly across the different states forming the peninsular kingdom, must certainly be shared by the King, the aristocracy and the Church but it is undeniable that, above all, it was the Count-Duke's policies and the Count-Duke's leadership which determined an ultimately disastrous course of events.
Quotes
- "God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days."
- "God wants us to make peace; for He is depriving us... of all the means of war."
See also
- History of SpainHistory of SpainThe history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain...
- Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
- Equestrian portrait of Duke de OlivaresEquestrian portrait of Duke de OlivaresThe Equestrian Portrait of Count-Duke of Olivares is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished in 1634. It is housed in the Museo del Prado, Madrid....
- Portrait of Duke de OlivaresPortrait of Duke de OlivaresThe Portrait of Count-Duke de Olivares is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, finished in 1635. It is housed in the Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg....
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