ALVA, FERDINAND ALVARES DE TOLEDO, duke Of, was born of a noble family in Spain, in the year 1508, and is said to have been instructed in the military art by his grandfather, Frederic de Toledo. He made his first appearance as a general in 1538, in the service of Charles V. ; and in this capacity he acquired great re putation by his defence of Perpignan, in 1542, against the dauphin of France. He was the first in command when Charles commenced hostilities against the Ger man protestants, in 1596; was chosen by that emperor as a proper person to preside in the court martial, which condemned to death the elector of Saxony ; and was employed also to execute a similar act of injustice in (let:11111(1g the landgrave of Iiesse in custody, after Charles had promised him his liberty. In 1552, he was appointed, in conjunction with the marquis de Malig nant), to conduct the siege of Metz; and, in 1555, he was sent into Piedmont, with the sole command of the imperial army, to oppose the ina.rechal Brissac. He owed this last appointment to the intrigues of a rival, as well as to the emperor's opinion of his military ta lents. He had courted, with much assiduity, the favour of Philip, the son of Charles; and as he resembled that prince in many features of his character, he soon wrought himself into his confidence. Ruy Gomez de Silva, Philip's favourite, in order to remove so formida ble a competitor, requested the emperor to honour Alva with the command in Piedmont. Though the duke well knew to what motives he owed this distinction; yet, as it was both a difficult and hazardous station, he thought himself bound in honour to accept of it ; but, at the same time, insisted upon his own terms, namely, that he should be constituted the emperor's vicar general in Italy, with the supreme military command of all the imperial and Spanish dominions in that country. To all these de mands Charles readily acceded; and Alva entered on his new dignity with almost unlimited authority. " His first operations, however, were neither proportioned to his former reputation, and the extensive powers with which he was invested ; nor did they come up to the emperor's expectations." And " after having boasted, with his usual arrogance, that he would drive the French out of Piedmont in a few weeks, he was obliged to re tire into winter quarters, with the ignominy of being unable to preserve entire that part of the country, of which the emperor had hitherto kept possession." (Ro bertson's Charles V.) He continued to hold the same command under Philip, to whom Charles resigned his dominions in 1556; advanced into the ecclesiastical states, and made himself master of the Campagna di Romana. In the following year, he negotiated a peace with the pope ; and, according to the terms of the trea ty, went in person to Rome, kissed the feet of his holi ness, and implored forgiveness for having invaded the patrimony of the church. " Such was the superstitious veneration of the Spaniards for the papal character, that Alva, though perhaps the proudest man of the age, and accustomed from his infancy to a familiar intercourse with princes, acknowledged, that when he approached the pope, he was so overawed, that his voice failed, and his presence of mind forsook him." (Robertson's Charles V.) In 1559, Alva was sent to Paris, to es pouse, in the name of Philip, Elizabeth, the eldest (laughter of Henry, second king of France ; and, in 1567, he was selected, as the fittest instrument, to execute the oppressive measures of the Spanish court in the Netherlands. He entered that devoted country at the
head of a well-disciplined army, and invested with the most absolute powers as governor. As soon as he ar rived at Brussels, he began to put in practice the treach erous and iniquitous system to which he had been habituated under his former master Charles, to which he was directed by the instructions of his present sove reign, and to which he was well inclined by his own cruel temper. He invited count Egmont and count Horn to his house, under the pretence of consulting them respecting a citadel, which he proposed to build at Antwerp; and having, in this insidious manner, drawn them into his power, he ordered them both into custody; while they in vain protested, that, as knights of the golden fleece, they could be judged only by their peers, and imprisoned only by their am hority. The lord of Beckcrzel, count Egmont's secretary, and several other persons of distinction, suffered a similar fate. Men of all ranks became alarmed, and more than 1000 individuals sought refuge in foreign countries. A coun cil of twelve members was instituted, to take cogni sance of those who had either directly or indirectly fa voured thc plans of the reformers. Of this council the duke himself was president ; and in his absence, Vargas, a Spanish lawyer, noted for his cruelty and avarice, di rected their deliberations. This assembly he named "the Council of Tumults ;" but the severity of their proceedings soon procured them the designation of "the Bloody Council ;" the country was filled with im prisonments, confiscations, and executions. There was no distinction made of age, sex, or condition. " In the space of a kw months, upwards of 1800 persons suffer ed by the hands of the executioner; yet the duke of Alva's thirst of blood was not satiated."—" His soldiers, accompanied by the inquisitors, like so many wolves, were let loose among the protestants; who were seized in the middle of the night in their beds, and from thence dragged to prisons and dungeons. Many who had been only once present at the protestant assemblies, even although they declared their faith in the catholic reli gion to be firm and unshaken, were hanged or drowned ; while those, who professed themselves to be protestants, or refused to abjure their religion, were put to the rack, in older to make them discover their associates. They were then dragged by horses to the place of execution; and their bodies being committed to the flames, their sufferings were prolonged with ingenious cruelty. To prevent them from bearing testimony, in the midst of their torments, to the truth of their profession, their executioners were not satisfied with barely confining their tongues. They first scorched them with a glowing iron, and then screwed them into a machine, contrived on purpose to produce the most excruciating pain. It is shocking to recount the numberless instances of in human cruelty perpetrated by Alva and his associates." —" Even the members of the bloody council began to feel their hearts revolt against the reiterated instances of cruelty to which their sanction was required. Some of them applied for dismission, others had the courage to absent themselves; and out of the twelve, of which the council was composed, there were seldom above three or four present." Watson's Phi/O, v. i.