Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba

Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel (* 1537, † December 11, 1583 in Lisbon ) was 4th Duke of Alba; since he inherited the title in 1582, shortly before his death, he was only called Don Fadrique.

He was the second son of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo. His other titles were: Duque de Huescar, Marqués de Coria and Mayor Comendador de la Orden de Calatrava.

He had Magdalena de Guzmán promised to marry, and was, as he does not redeemed the promise of 1566 imprisoned in the Castillo de La Mota in Medina del Campo. The following year he was set free to go with his father to Flanders. 1571 Fadrique married secretly, but with the consent of his father, María de Toledo, daughter of García Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Marquis of Villafranca and Viceroy of Sicily, the eldest son of the Duke of Alba. After the return of father and son to Madrid in 1574, the operation was known, and the king ordered a process in 1579 with the conviction Fadriques ended in a prison sentence, which brought him back into the Castillo de la Mota, and with his subsequent exile to Ucedo, a possession of the Dukes of Alba.

Don Fadrique was at the instigation of his father in the first phase of the Eighty Years' War, Supreme Commander of the Netherlands. He was the commander of the massacre of Zutphen and Naarden, and the commander, who finished 1573 the siege of Haarlem.

Since he had no children, his nephew Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont succeeded him as 5th Duke of Alba.

See also: House Álvarez de Toledo