Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna

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Don Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna, (b. 1575 at Osuna – d. 1624), was Spanish viceroy of Sicily and Naples; the subject of many celebrated poems by his secretary and panegyrist, Francisco de Quevedo.

He was baptized on January 18, 1575, the son of Don Juan Téllez-Giron, 2nd Duke, and of his wife Ana Maria de Velasco, a daughter of the constable of Castile. When a boy he accompanied his grandfather, the 1st duke, to Naples, where he was viceroy. He saw service at the age of fourteen with the troops sent by Philip II to put down a revolt in Aragon, and was married while still young to Catalina Enríquez de Ribera, a grand-daughter, on her mothers side, of Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of Mexico. In 1598 he inherited the dukedom. Before and after his marriage he was known for the reckless dissipation of his life. The scandals to which his excesses gave rise led to his imprisonment at the castle of Arévalo in 1600. This sharp lesson had a wholesome effect on the duke, and in the same year he left for Flanders with a body of soldiers raised at his own expense. His appearance in Flanders as a grandee with a following of his own caused some embarrassment to the king's officers. But Osuna displayed unexpected docility and good sense in the field. He was content to serve as a subordinate and took a full share of work and fighting both by land and sea.

[edit] Career

When peace was made with England in 1604 he is said to have visited London. He is said also to have paid a visit to Holland during the armistice arranged to allow of the negotiations for the Twelve Years' Truce of 1609; but, as he was back in Spain by the end of that year, he cannot have seen much of the country. His services had purged his early offences, and he had been decorated with the Golden Fleece. On September 18, 1610 he was named palatine of Sicily, and took possession of his post at Melazzo on March 9, 1611. In 1616 he was promoted viceroy of Naples, and held the office until he was recalled on March 28, 1620. The internal government of the duke of Osuna in both provinces was vigorous and just. During his Sicilian viceroyalty he organized a good squadron of galleys with which he freed the coast, for a time, from the raids of pirates from the Barbary States and the Levant. After his transfer to Naples, Osuna continued his energetic suppression of piracy, but he also became involved in some of the most obscure political intrigues of the time.

He entered into a policy of unmeasured hostility to Venice, which he openly attacked in the Adriatic. The princes of the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg were at all times anxious to secure safe communication with the Germanic possessions of their family. Hence their will to dominate all northern Italy and secure possession of the Alpine passes. It would have suited them very well to have reduced Venice to the same state of subservience as Genoa. Osuna threw himself into this policy wholeheartedly. There can be no reasonable doubt that he was engaged with the Spanish ambassador and the viceroy of Milan in a top-secret conspiracy against Venice in 1618. But the Spanish government had miscalculated and was persuaded to draw back. It then found extreme difficulty in controlling its fiery viceroy. Osuna continued to act against Venice and treated orders from home with scant respect. Serious fears began to be entertained that he meant to declare himself independent in Naples, and, had he tried, he could have brought about a popular revolt. It is, however, unlikely that he had treasonable intentions. He allowed his naval forces to be gradually reduced and, when superseded, returned obediently to Madrid.

After his return he was imprisoned on a long string of charges, largely at the instigation of the Venetians. No judgment was issued against him, for he died in prison on September 24, 1624.

The "Great Duke of Osuna", as he is always called by Spaniards, impressed the imagination of his countrymen profoundly as a vigorous, domineering, patriotic leader, and he was no less admired by the Italians. His ability was considered superior to that of the ordinary politician and courtier of the time, but he was perhaps more energetic than really wise.

[edit] References

• The Vita di Don Pietro Giron, duca d' Ossuna, vicere di Napolli e di Sicilia of Gregorio Leti (published in Amsterdam, 1699) is full of irrelevances, and contains much gossip, as well as speeches which are manifestly the invention of the author. But it is founded on good documents, and Leti, an Italian who detested the Spanish rule, knew the state of his own country well. See also Don C. Fernandez Duro, El Gran Duque de Osuna y su Marina (published in Madrid, 1885), and Documentos inditos para la historia de España, vols. xliv-xlvii (Madrid, 1842, &c.).
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.