Federico Spinola

Federico Spinola
Portrait by Barocci, 1595
Born1571 (1571)
Genoa, Republic of Genoa
Died26 May 1603(1603-05-26) (aged 31–32)
Sluis, County of Flanders, Spanish Netherlands
AllegianceSpanish Habsburg
Service/branchArmada of Flanders
Years of service1598–1603
Rankadmiral
Commands heldgalley squadron
Battles/warsBattle of Sesimbra Bay (1602)
Battle of the Narrow Seas (1602)
Battle of Sluis (1603)
RelationsAmbrogio Spinola (brother)

Federico Spinola (1571–1603) was an Italian naval commander in Spanish Habsburg service during the Dutch Revolt.

Life

Spinola was born in Genoa in 1571 and studied at the University of Salamanca in preparation for an intended ecclesiastical career. Instead he took service in the Army of Flanders under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma.

In 1598, he travelled to Madrid with a proposal to build up a fleet of galleys in Flanders that could be used to launch an invasion of England.[1] Approval was granted, and a squadron of six galleys was placed under his command, which he sailed to Sluis in 1599, establishing his base of operations there.[2] A further eight galleys sailed from Spain under his command in 1602, to reinforce the squadron at Sluis, but only four of these made it to port. Two were lost en route in the Battle of Sesimbra Bay and two more during the Battle of the Narrow Seas (1602). On 26 May the following year, Spinola died in the Battle of Sluis (1603), bringing to an end his experiment in adopting Mediterranean naval warfare to northern waters.[3]

A portrait of him was painted by Federico Barocci in 1595, and a poem by Francisco de Quevedo memorializes his exploits.[4]

References

  1. ^ Luc Duerloo, Dynasty and Piety: Archduke Albert (1598-1621) and Habsburg Political Culture in an Age of Religious Wars (Ashgate, 2013), pp. 137–138.
  2. ^ Gregory Hanlon, The Twilight of a Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats and European Conflicts, 1560-1800 (Routledge, 2008), p. 78. ISBN 9781135361433
  3. ^ V. Brants, "Spinola (Frédéric)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 23 (Brussels, 1924), 424-426.
  4. ^ Francisco Ledesma, Cesáreo Fernández Duro, Cesáreo Fernández Duro, El gran Duque de Osuna y su marina: Jornadas contra turcos y venecianos (1602-1624) (Renacimiento, 2012), pp. 205–207.