Luis de Benavides Carrillo, Marquis of Caracena

A 1636 portrait of the Marquis of Caracena

Luis Francisco de Benavides Carrillo de Toledo, Marquis of Caracena, Marquis of Fromista (20 September 1608[1] – 6 January 1668[2]) was a Spanish general and political figure. He served as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands between 1659 and 1664.[3][4]

Born in Valencia,[1] a member of a noble Spanish family, he made a career in the army during the many battles in Italy and Flanders between 1629 and 1659. He conquered the fortress of Casale Monferrato in 1652.[5]

He was Governor of Milan between 1648 and 1656.[6] After the defeat of John of Austria the Younger in the Battle of the Dunes (1658), Caracena was appointed to succeed him. After the conclusion of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, the Habsburg Netherlands saw a period of relative peace.[7] Despite this fact, governing wasn't easy for Caracena, since by then various wars had pushed Spain to the brink of bankruptcy.

In 1664 he returned to Spain to assume command of the war against Portugal, which was going poorly after a series of military setbacks, most recently after the defeat in 1663 in the Battle of Ameixial, near Estremoz of the same John of Austria the Younger. Caracena's command of the Spanish forces in Portugal was brief; he was decisively defeated by António Luís de Meneses at the Battle of Montes Claros in 1665. The defeat effectively ended the War of Restoration in favor of the Portuguese.

After the battle, Caracena was charged with treason and cowardice. He defended himself by claiming that he was not to blame, but rather the defeat was due to the poor state of the Spanish army, intrigue in the Spanish Court, and the lack of funds to protract a war against Portugal. Afterwards, he was disregarded by the Spanish Crown and died of disease in Madrid in 1668.

  • Gridario, Milan 1650
    Gridario, Milan 1650
  1. ^ a b Vindel, Pedro (1923). El Marqués de Caracena: gobernador y capitàn general de los Países Bajos y Borgoña (in Spanish). Impr. Sobrinos de la Sucesora de M. Minuesa de los Ríos. p. 5. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  2. ^ Pineda, Juan F. Rivarola y (1736). Monarquia Española, Blason de su Nobleza (in Spanish). Alfonfo de Mora. p. 372. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  3. ^ "Luis de Benavides Carrillo de Toledo | Real Academia de la Historia". dbe.rah.es. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  4. ^ Los Héroes y las grandezas de la tierra, 7: anales del mundo, formación, revoluciones y guerras de todos los imperios, desde la creación hasta nuestros días (in Spanish). Libr. de José Cuesta. 1856. p. 412. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  5. ^ Vannugli, Antonio (1996). "Collezionismo spagnolo nello Stato di Milano: la quadreria del marchese di Caracena". Arte Lombarda. 117 (2): 5–36. ISSN 0004-3443. JSTOR 43106951. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  6. ^ Pérez-Bustamante, Rogelio (2000). El gobierno del imperio español: los Austrias (1517-1700) (in Spanish). Comunidad de Madrid, Consjería de Educación. p. 310. ISBN 978-84-451-1755-2. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  7. ^ Dyer, Thomas Henry (1877). Modern Europe. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 309. Retrieved 26 February 2024.