View source for Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma

{{Short description|Spanish politician (1553–1625)}}
{{redirect|Duke of Lerma|the peerage title|Duke of Lerma (title)}}
{{family name hatnote|Gómez de Sandoval|Rojas|lang=Spanish}}{{more footnotes needed|date=June 2019}}{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = cardinal
| title = [[San Sisto Vecchio|Cardinal-priest of San Sisto]]
| honorific-prefix = [[His Eminence]]<br />[[The Most Excellent]]
| honorific-suffix =
| name = The Duke of Lerma
| image = Retrato ecuestre del duque de Lerma (Rubens).jpg
| image_size =
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| caption = '''Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma''', [[Spain|Spanish]] statesman, by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] (1603). Located in the [[Prado]].
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| quashed =
| term_end = 17 May 1625
| predecessor = [[Giambattista Leni]]
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| successor = [[Laudivio Zacchia]]
| other_post = <!---------- Orders
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clergy claiming Apostolic succession, such as Catholics, Orthodox and Anglicans. ---------->
| ordination = March 1622
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| cardinal = 26 March 1618
| created_cardinal_by = [[Pope Paul V]]
| rank = [[Cardinal-priest]]
<!---------- Personal details ---------->| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1552
| birth_place = [[Tordesillas]], [[Castile and León]], [[Spain]]
| death_date = 17 May 1625 (aged 72)
| death_place = [[Valladolid]], [[Castile and León]], [[Spain]]
| nationality = [[Spain|Spanish]]
| religion = [[Roman Catholic]]
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| previous_post = ''Valido'' of the [[Spanish Empire]]
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| coat_of_arms_alt = <!---------- Sainthood ---------->
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| enthroned = March 1621
}}
'''Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma, 5th Marquess of Denia, 1st Count of Ampudia''' (1552/1553 &ndash; 17 May 1625), was a [[favourite]] of [[Philip III of Spain]], the first of the ''[[validos]]'' ('most worthy') through whom the later [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg monarchs]] ruled. His administration was marked by costly wars, including the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] with the [[Dutch Republic]], financial mismanagement, and the controversial [[expulsion of the Moriscos]]. Eventually, he was deposed in 1618 under a palace intrigue orchestrated by his son and political rival, [[Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda|Cristóbal de Sandoval]]. Lerma retired as a [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|cardinal]] and was succeeded by the [[Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares|Count-Duke of Olivares]] but faced financial penalties and died in 1625 at [[Valladolid]].
==Biography==
{{See|Palacio de la Ribera}}
Believed to have been born in 1552,<ref>{{cite book|last=Feros|first=Antonio|title=Kingship and Favoritism in the Spain of Philip III, 1598-1621|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4O1q_6OOSagC&pg=PA33 |year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|page=33|isbn=9780521025324 }}</ref> Francisco de Sandoval was the son of Francisco de Rojas de Sandoval, Count of Lerma and Marquis of [[Dénia|Denia]]. His mother was Isabelle de [[House of Borgia|Borgia]], daughter of Saint [[Francis Borgia]], [[Duke of Gandía]] and [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus|General]] of the [[Jesuit Order]].<ref>{{cite book|first=J. M. S.|last=Daurignac|title=Histoire de Saint François de Borgia, duc de Gandie, troisième général de la Compagnie de Jésus.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZ9fAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA93 |language=French|year=1863|publisher=Ambroise Bray, Libraire-éditeur|location=Paris|pages=93–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=John|first=Dalberg-Acton|author-link=John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton|editor1=Adolphus Ward|editor1-link=Adolphus Ward|editor2=George Prothero|editor2-link=George Prothero|editor3=Stanley Leathes|editor3-link=Stanley Mordaunt Leathes|title=The Cambridge Modern History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paw8AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA90 |year=1911|volume=XIII– Genealogical tables and lists and General Index|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|page=90}}</ref>
The family of Sandoval was ancient and powerful. The future duke of Lerma was born and raised at [[Tordesillas]]. As long as [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]] lived, the nobles had little effective share in the government, with the exception of a few who were appointed viceroys or commanded armies abroad. Lerma passed his time as a courtier, and made himself a [[favourite]] with the young prince [[Philip III of Spain|Philip]], heir to the Spanish throne. The dying King Philip II foresaw that Lerma was one of those nobles who were likely to mislead the new sovereign. The old king's fears were, it is claimed by some, fully justified after his death.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lerma, Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of|volume=16|page=484}}</ref> Others however, claim that Lerma was a fully capable favourite, as he led [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and the [[Habsburg Spain|Habsburg dominions]] on a more modest and economically viable course of peace than both Phillip II and Olivares during the reign of [[Philip IV of Spain|Philip IV]] – both figures that have received far more positive recognition by historians.
No sooner was Philip III king than he entrusted all authority to his favourite,<ref name="EB1911"/> who amassed power unprecedented for a ''privado'' or favorite and became the "king's shadow", the filter through whom all information passed, as he was appointed [[Sumiller de Corps]] and [[Caballerizo mayor]] to the King. Philip III, preoccupied with piety and indolence, soon created him [[Duke of Lerma (title)|Duke of Lerma]] (1599), pressured the papacy to make his uncle Bernardo a Cardinal and delegated to him governorship of certain public offices and management responsibility of particular lands, authorized by the King and Queen, of the Kingdoms of Castile and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]].
Gifts poured in from outside the royal court. From the [[Medici]] in [[Florence]] in 1601 came an over-lifesize marble of ''[[Samson Slaying a Philistine]]'' by [[Giambologna]], presented as a [[diplomatic gift]]. It had been made for a Medici garden, and though it had recently been in storage, it was a princely gift (now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], London). Lerma assembled a vast collection of paintings. Duke Mario [[House of Farnese|Farnese]] sent over a [[Fra Angelico]] ''[[Annunciation]]'' (it was a little old-fashioned), which Lerma passed on to the Dominicans of [[Valladolid]] and is now at the [[Prado]], Madrid. The political treatise ''[[República Mista]]'' (1602) was dedicated by [[Tomás Fernández de Medrano]], lord of Valdeosera, to his close friend and relative, the Duke of Lerma himself.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJ7Uw6xczpEC&pg=PP5 | title=República Mista | last1=Medrano | first1=Juan Fernandez de | date=1602 }}</ref>
[[Image:Parador de Lerma 3.jpg|thumb|250px|left|[[Lerma Ducal Palace|Ducal palace]] at [[Lerma, Burgos|Lerma]].]]
As chief minister Lerma's ideas of foreign policy were firmly grounded in feudal ideas about royal patrimony. He cemented Spanish rule by many marriage alliances with the Austrian [[Habsburg]]s and then with the French [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]]s. Lerma's administration began by making peace with [[Kingdom of France|France]], in the 1598 [[Treaty of Vervins]] in 1598, but he persisted in costly and useless [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|hostilities with England]] till 1604, when Spain was forced by exhaustion to make peace. Lerma used all his influence against a recognition of the independence of the Low Countries.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Though in 1607 the monarchy declared itself bankrupt, Lerma carried out the ruinous measures for the [[expulsion of the Moriscos]], Moors who had converted to Christianity, from 1609&ndash;14, a decision affecting over 300,000 people. A policy motivated by religious and political considerations, in which no economic consideration played a part, the expulsion secured him the admiration of the clergy and was popular with the masses of people. It also provided a short-term boost to the royal treasury from the impounded property of the Moors, but would ruin the economy of [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]] for generations.  Lerma's financial horizons remained medieval: his only resources as a finance minister were the debasing of the coinage and edicts against luxury and the making of silver plate.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Bankrupt or not, the war with the Dutch dragged on till 1609, when the [[Twelve Years' Truce]] was signed with them. There was constant anti-Spanish agitation in [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], which had been dynastically [[Iberian Union|joined to Spain]] since 1580.
[[File:Monumento funerario de Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (Valladolid).jpg|thumb|Golden [[bronze]] statue of Lerma at the [[Colegio de San Gregorio]], by [[Juan de Arphe y Villafañe|Juan de Arfe]]]]
In the end, Lerma was deposed by a palace intrigue carried out by his own son, [[Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda]], manipulated by [[Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares|Olivares]]. It is probable that he would never have lost the confidence of Philip III, who divided his life between festivals and prayers, if not for the domestic treachery of his son, who allied himself with the King's confessor, [[Luis de Aliaga Martínez]], whom Lerma had introduced. After a long intrigue in which the King remained silent and passive, Lerma was at last compelled to leave the court, on 4 October 1618.<ref name="EB1911"/>
As a protection, and as a means of retaining some measure of power in case he fell from favour, he had persuaded [[Pope Paul V]] to create him cardinal, the previous March (1618).<ref name="EB1911"/> He retired to the [[Ducal Palace of Lerma]], and then to [[Valladolid]], where it was reported that he celebrated Mass every day "with great devotion and tears". When the dying Philip III was presented with a list of prisoners and exiles to be forgiven, he granted grace to all except the cardinal-duke of Lerma. When Lerma learned the news, he started from Valladolid to Madrid but was intercepted on the road and commanded by Olivares, favorite of the heir to the throne, who professed an implacable hatred for the cardinal, to return to Valladolid. The Cardinal was in [[Villacastín]] and remained there until he learned of the death of the King. Then he went back to Valladolid to celebrate the requiem in the [[Iglesia de San Pablo, Valladolid|church of San Pablo]]. He was ordered by the count of Olivares to reside in [[Tordesillas]] but he did not obey and appealed to [[Pope Gregory XV]] and the [[College of Cardinals]] defended him, considering his banishment an attempt against ecclesiastical freedom and the prestige of the cardinalate.
Under the reign of Philip IV, which began in 1621, Lerma was despoiled of part of his wealth.<ref name="EB1911"/> The Cardinal was sentenced, on 3 August 1624, to return to the state over a million [[ducat]]s. Lerma died in 1625 at Valladolid.
==Marriage and issue==
The Duke of Lerma married in 1576 [[Catalina de la Cerda y Portugal]] (1551–1603), daughter of [[Juan de la Cerda, 4th Duke of Medinaceli]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.fundacionmedinaceli.org/casaducal/fichaindividuo.aspx?id=150 | title=Iframe }}</ref> They had 5 children:
* [[Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda]] (1577–1624), his successor.
* Diego de Sandoval (died 1632), married Luisa de Mendoza, VII Condesa de Saldaña.
* Juana de Sandoval (died 1624), married [[Manuel Pérez de Guzmán y Silva, 8th Duke of Medina Sidonia]].
** [[Luisa de Guzmán]] (1613–1666), married John II, 8th Duke of Braganza, later crowned King [[John IV of Portugal]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Montesinos|first=Fernando|title=Portrait of a young nobleman: a knight of the Order of Calatrava|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1D5yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |year=2017|publisher=Parques de Sintra-Monte da Lua|location=Sintra|page=55|isbn=9789899981508 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Guillamas|first=Fernando|title=Historia de Sanlucar de Barrameda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GgZDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA364 |language=Spanish|year=1858|publisher=Imprenta del Colegio de Sordo-Mudos y de Ciegos|location=Madrid|page=364}}</ref>
* Catalina de Sandoval (died 1648), married Pedro Fernández de Castro, 7th Count of Lemos.
* Francisca de Sandoval (died 1663), married Diego López de Zúñiga Avellaneda, 2nd Duke of Peñaranda de Duero.
==Domestic policy==
When Lerma fell from power in 1618, his status as cardinal (which he had acquired for exactly this purpose 6 months earlier) gave him immunity from prosecution by his numerous enemies, who instead turned on Lerma's trusted and unscrupulous secretary, [[Rodrigo Calderón, Count of Oliva]] (d. 1621), who as Lerma's agent was made a scapegoat. Calderón was tortured and executed on trumped up charges of witchcraft and other crimes, which demonstrated what would likely have been Lerma's fate, if a cardinal's hat hadn't protected his head.
Lerma was also responsible for the appointment of Don [[Pedro Franqueza]] to reform royal finances, but who instead managed to embezzle enough funds to purchase the title of Count of Villalonga. He was placed on trial and forfeited his riches.
At a time when the state was practically bankrupt, he encouraged the King in extravagance, and accumulated for himself a fortune estimated by contemporaries at forty-four million ducats.<ref name="EB1911"/>
On the hilltop overlooking the village of Lerma in [[Old Castile]] that provided his grand title, the duke built a palace (1606–1617, by Francisco de Mora) capped with corner towers, on the site of a fortification, ranged round a double-arcaded courtyard facing an arcaded square and linked to the rebuilt church of San Pedro with a private passageway. Lerma was pious, spending lavishly on religious houses.
==In fiction==
[[Image:Lermontov Gerzog Lerma 1832-33.jpg|thumb|right|Fictional "Duke of Lerma", 19th century painting by [[Mikhail Lermontov]]]]
* Lerma is mentioned in the early 18th century [[picaresque novel]] ''[[Gil Blas]]'' (Chapter IV) by [[Alain-René Lesage|Alain-Rene Lesage]].
* A young [[Mikhail Lermontov]] associated his surname with Lerma's title, which is an obvious fiction; even the family legend traced back the name to [[Thomas the Rhymer|Thomas Learmonth the Rhymer]] from Scotland, but not to Lerma. The poet painted an imaginary portrait of the "Duke of Lerma" and created some other works featuring Spaniards.
* Anachronistically, a "Duke of Lerma" features as one of the minor characters in the 1867 opera ''[[Don Carlos]]'' by [[Giuseppe Verdi]].
* A fictionalized, more treasonous version of Lerma, renamed the "Duke of Lorca," is the villain of the 1948 film ''[[Adventures of Don Juan]]'' played by [[Errol Flynn]].
==See also==
*[[Lerma, Burgos]]
*''[[The Great Favourite]]''
==References==
<references />
==Bibliography==
* Antonio Feros, ''Kingship and Favoritism in the Spain of Philip III, 1598–1621'' (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern History), New York: Cambridge U. Press. 2000.
* Patrick Williams, ''The great favourite: The Duke of Lerma and the court and government of Philip III of Spain, 1598–1621''. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2006.
* Sarah Schroth, ''The Picture Collection of the Duke of Lerma'', 2002.
* The history of Lerma's tenure of office is in vol. xv. of the Historia General de Espana of Modesto Lafuente (Madrid, 1855)—with references to contemporary authorities.
* Lisa A. Banner, ''The Religious Patronage of the Duke of Lerma, 1598–1621'', Ashgate, 2009. Discusses his patronage of churches, paintings, architects and painters.
==External links==
{{Commons category|Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma}}
*[http://www.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1618.htm Biographical dictionary of the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church; illuminating backstory on the cardinalate.]
*[http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rubens/rubens42.html The Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma] by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], (1603) Prado, Madrid.
*[http://www.mfa.org/files/podcasts/elgreco1-lerma.m4a The Duke of Lerma]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Part I in a podcast series for the exhibition, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080527062302/http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=2145 El Greco to Velazquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III]"
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Spain}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoval, Francisco Gomez de}}
[[Category:1550s births|Lerma, Duke of]]
[[Category:1625 deaths|Lerma, Duke of]]
[[Category:Government ministers of Spain|Lerma, Duke of]]
[[Category:Spanish royal favourites]]
[[Category:Dukes of Lerma|101]]
[[Category:Spanish Baroque people]]
[[Category:16th-century Spanish nobility]]
[[Category:17th-century Spanish nobility]]