Diego Felipez de Guzmán, 1st Marquess of Leganés

Diego Mexía Felípez de Guzmán y Dávila, 1st Marquess of Leganés (1580–1655) was a Spanish politician and army commander.

Biography

Diego was the youngest son of Diego Velázquez Dávila y Bracamonte, Marquess of Loriana, and Leonor de Gúzman,^[1] aunt of the Count-Duke of Olivares.

Beginning in 1600, Diego fought during more than 20 years in the Spanish Netherlands in the service of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria. After the Archduke's death, Diego returned to Spain where his cousin Olivares had become valido, and under his patronage, Diego soon became very influential.

Diego became a member of the State Council in 1626, was made Marquess of Leganés in 1627 and married in the same year with Polixena Spinola, the very rich daughter of the great general

In 1627 Diego was sent back to Flanders to force the

On 24 September 1635 Diego was named Captain General and

In 1638 Diego conquered Breme and Vercelli, and launched the next year a great offensive against Piedmont. He conquered a large number of cities, but suffered a great defeat near Casale and failed in the Siege of Turin (1640).

Diego was called back to Spain and in November 1641 given the command of the army of Catalonia to push back the French and Catalan troops in the Catalan Revolt.

After some initial successes in defending

• Gaspar Felípez de Guzmán y Spinola, 2nd Marquess of Leganés (died 1666), governor of
  Viceroy of Valencia.^[1]
  • • Father of
      Diego Dávila Mesía y Guzmán, 3rd Marquess of Leganés
      (died 1711).
• Ambrosio Ignacio Mexía Felípez de Guzmán y Spinola (1632–1684), tutor of Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias and Archbishop.^[1]

He next married Juana Fernández de Córdoba y Rojas,^[1] daughter of Luis Fernández de Córdoba, 6th Duke of Sessa.

Art collector

The Marquess of Leganés was also one of the greatest art collectors of his time, he is said to have owned a total of 1.330 paintings. He was also painted by Anthony van Dyck, a painting which today can be found in the Banco Santander Foundation in Madrid.

Further reading

• Liedtke , Walter A. (1984). Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  ISBN 0870993569
  . (see index, v.1, for information about his art collecting).

Sources

• Elliott, J. H (2002). Imperial Spain 1469-1716. Penguin Books.
• Hanlon, Gregory (2019). The Hero of Italy: Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, his Soldiers, and his Subjects in the Thirty Years' War. Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-258628-5
  .
• Malcolm, Alistair (2017). Royal Favouritism and the Governing Elite of the Spanish Monarchy, 1640-1665. Oxford University Press.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Diego Felipe de Guzmán.

• Retrato de Diego Felipez de Guzmán, Marquess of Leganés, his biography in Spanish from 1791.