The Duke of Alba (review)

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the third Duke of Alba (1507–82), has a reputation as bloody and lasting as any ruler of his time, due mostly to his ruthless implementation of Spanish policy in the Netherlands. Addressing Alba's reputation is a key function of Henry Kamen's new study, but the book remains, more than anything, a highly readable biographical account of the duke, in which the duke's voice clearly speaks from his own and others' letters.

The account of such a prominent career intertwines with major events and personalities of the time and thus ranges over the landscape of sixteenth-century European war and diplomacy. Despite the prominence of the Netherlands in collective memory of Alba, his infamous years there are but a segment of a long career that began as a child in his grandfather's entourage and ended with a successful campaign to secure Spanish possession of Portugal. He traveled widely in the service of Charles V and Philip II: to England, France, Vienna, Italy, and Germany, as well as to the Netherlands. Kamen uses evidence from Alba's career under Charles V to demonstrate the duke's willingness to see Spain in context of a larger European policy, arguing against the historical judgment that Alba was chauvinistically Castilian in outlook. By the time Philip II inherited the Spanish throne, Alba had a strong sense of his own place in policy-making. Close to twenty years older than the king, he obeyed him but did not hesitate to offer criticism. It indeed reflects well on the patience of Philip that he tolerated a clearly overbearing character whom he nonetheless judged to be a valuable resource.

Kamen lays out Alba's personality in context of family and court. His grandfather groomed him for career and inheritance; his wife provided strong support and partnership; his sons, whose reputations also suffered profoundly from their involvement in the Netherlands venture, served as aides to their father. Kamen does not differ from other accounts in judging Alba arrogant, attributing it to introspection and childhood patterns of self-reliance in the face of loss. Alba's high valuation of his own opinion and dignity made him an awkward presence at court, less attractive to the modern mind than his "rival" at court, the Prince of Eboli. It was, however, his heir's misjudged marriage rather than negative assessments of his service that precipitated Alba's own exile from court late in his career: if Philip II was looking for a reason to remove him from court, it is perhaps significant that he chose a domestic issue rather than a foreign policy failure.

Alba's early tactical experience in Italy and final campaign in Portugal nicely round out the image of an overall career. The central chapters, however, focus on the Netherlands. The revolt itself is often seen in religious terms, but for Alba the categories of heresy and rebellion seemed fluid. In the early part of his career, he was willing to work with Protestants and he described the situation he faced on first arriving in the Netherlands as rebellion. Over time, however, he began to speak of the conflict in religious terms despite the fact that many rebels were, in fact, Catholic. For him, the greater crime was rebellion and only a firm hand would teach others to obey — a judgment based on the fact that he was truly a military man rather than a figurehead nobleman plucked from court to lead an army. He was a tough and spirited personality whose implementation of policy has the ring of a soldier's practicality, a "merciless observance of the rules of war" (46). He was, moreover, able to inspire loyalty in his men and personally undertook the rigorous inspection and oversight necessary to prepare for defense and battle.

Biographies of persons deemed misjudged by history often contain a certain plaintive tone. Kamen avoids some but not...