Alfonso d'Avalos

Alfonso (III ) d' Avalos, also known as Alfonso de Ávalos y de Aquino, or Alonso de Ávalos (in Spanish) and Alfonso d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona ( in Italian) ( * February 25, 1502 in Ischia, † March 31, 1546 in Vigevano, Milan) was an Italian nobleman from the province of the originally Spanish aristocracy Avalos and one of the greatest generals of the Emperor Charles V.. Between 1538 and 1546 he was Governor of Milan. In 1529 he became master of Ischia and Procida.

Origin

Alfonso was a son of Inigo / Innico II d' Avalos d' Aquino, Marquis del Vasto 1, Conte di Monteodorisio († September 30, 1503 ) and his wife, Laura Sanseverino, of the house of Pricipi di Bisignano. He was a nephew of Ferdinando Francesco d' Avalos ( 1489/90-1525 ), the Governor of the Duchy of Milan and Viceroy of Sicily, was inherited the title in 1525 and followed him as commander of the imperial troops. He himself bore the title Principe di Francavilla, Principe di Montesarchio, Marchese del Vasto, Marchese di Pescara and Conte di Monteodorisio, Grandee of Spain, was Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1536 and Imperial Captain-General.

Military career

Alfonso came under his uncle Fernando Francesco into military service and fought against the French and Venetians. He participated in various campaigns of Emperor Charles V in part. Among other things, at the Battle of Pavia 24 February 1525, where he commanded the imperial musketeers. In the years 1526-1528 he fought under Hugo de Moncada (1527 Viceroy of Naples), and was captured by the Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria in 1528, in the service of King Francis I of France was at that time. In 1532 he participated in the army of Emperor Charles V in Austria on its campaign against the troops of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent in part, as this second ( unsuccessful ) attempt undertook to conquer Vienna. In 1535 he served in the Tunis campaign of the emperor as commander of the Spanish veterans, was commissioned by the emperor hosts the exiled Tunisian king, Muley Hassan, commanded the attack on Tunis as Captain-General of the vanguard, and was the first person who could penetrate into the city. In 1538 he was appointed as the successor of Marino Caracciolo for the third governor in the Duchy of Milan and proved himself there until 1546 as a patron of writers and musicians.

In 1538 he represented Spain as Ambassador to the enthronement of the new Doge of Venice, Pietro Lando.

During the Italian wars between the House of Austria and France, he commanded the imperial army in the years 1542-1546, in which he succeeded in August 1543, Nice, of the siege by a Franco- Ottoman force under Khair ad-Din Barbarossa and François de Bourbon Comte d' Enghien to free. In the Battle of Ceresole however, he was defeated by the French troops, who were under the command of his former opponent, François de Bourbon in a pitched battle on April 11, 1544. A little later, on 2 June 1544, however, he managed to defeat at the Battle of Serravalle an army of Italian mercenaries who were in the service of France, and were commanded by Piero Strozzi and Giovanni Francesco Orsini, Conte di Pitigliano.

Family and descendants

Alfonso married on November 26, 1523 with Maria d' Aragona (1503, † November 9, 1568 in Naples), a daughter of Fernando of Aragon, Duca di Montalto (which is a bastard son of King Ferdinand I of Naples [ 1458 -1494 ] was ) and his wife, Castellana Folch de Cardona, daughter of Ramón de Cardona 1502 1st Duca di Soma, Viceroy of Naples ( 1509-1522 ) and viceroy of Sicily ( 1507-1509 ). Due to this marriage he took the family name d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona.

Children:

• Innico d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona († 1600), Cardinal
• Gionanni d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona ∞ an Orsini
• Beatrice d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona ∞ Alfonso de Guevara
• Cesare d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona ∞ Lucrezia del Tufo
• Carlo d' Avalos d' Aquino d' Aragona, 1st Principe di Montesarchio ∞ Sveva Gesualdo
• Francesco d' Avalos d' Aquino Fernando d' Aragona, Principe di Francavilla etc. ∞ Isabella Gonzaga