# Francisco de Rivera y Medina

Francisco de Rivera y Medina (c. 1582 – c. 1646) was a Spanish naval commander. He had a successful career under Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna, achieving fame for his victory over a vastly larger Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Cape Celidonia.

## Early career

Rivera lost his father at an early age, leading him to a low life in Toledo. He already intended to join the Spanish armies, but was forced to flee from Toledo after killing a man in a duel and wounding no fewer than five constables who had tried to arrest him. He ended up in Cádiz, where he joined the Spanish armada under Admiral Luis Fajardo in 1603.
One year into its tenure, Fajardo's convoy defeated a fleet of the Ottoman Empire, and during its course Rivera had his first showing by capturing a Turk ship, which gained him Fajardo's favor. In 1605, he was part of Fajardo's expedition to Cumaná, modern-day Venezuela, where their 14 galleons captured 19 Dutch privateer hulks which harassed local Spanish trade. However, after being promoted to ensign, Rivera killed another man, a captain, forcing him again to flee for another destination.

## Mediterranean fleet

He travelled to the Viceroyalty of Sicily seeking to join the famed fleets of the Duke of Osuna, who gave Rivera command of one of the 36-gun galleon San Juan Bautista. With it, he defeated a fleet of ten Barbary galleys from Tunis, after which he chased them to the Tunisian port of La Goulette and assaulted it, capturing four galleys. The battle saw Rivera promoted to captain, and among Osuna's best commanders, along with Ottavio d'Aragona. When Osuna was appointed Viceroy of Naples, Rivera and d'Aragona accompanied him as part of his entourage, referred to as the Duke's Bravos ("Brave Ones").
In July 1616, Rivera commanded a squadron formed by his flagship, the 52-gun Concepción and five other ships, with a total of one thousand musketeers on board. At the Battle of Cape Celidonia, his squadron defeated 55 Ottoman galleys, leading King Philip III to promote Rivera to admiral for this victory, along with awarding him with admittance to the Order of Santiago. His next campaigns would be against the Republic of Venice, an intermitent ally of the Turks, against which Rivera obtained another major victory at the Battle of Ragusa.
In 1619, Rivera underwent a long campaign with five galleons to curb Barbary piracy around Sicily, Malta and Sardinia, capturing multiple ships and penetrating La Goulette twice to burn the local ships. In March, he chased a fleet of other five vessels from the Regency of Algiers, reaching two of them, whose crews blew up their ships to avoid capture.
In 1620, the Duke of Osuna was recalled to Spain. Rivera's last deployment under his orders saw him command ten galleons in conjunction with Agustín de Silva with six galleys, hounding Candia and capturing a dozen Venetian merchants. After Rivera returned to Naples with the merchants, Silva was cornered by Venetian admiral Federico Nani with eight galleons, losing his main galley but managing to escape with the rest.
With Osuna definitely demoted, Rivera was given command of the Sicillian ships. He was ordered to carry troops to Genoa, after which he leading yet another raid on La Goulette in August 1621 to destroy the local corsair ships. It was followed by another raid by Diego Pimentel later into the year.

## Atlantic fleet

In 1623, Rivera and his Naples Squadron, were transferred to the Spanish Armada in the Atlantic Ocean under Fadrique de Toledo, Marquis of Valdueza. The following year he could finally take possession of his habit of Santiago, as the process had dragged over the years due to Rivera's grandmother being found to be of converso blood. A special exemption in honor of his battle feats was decreed by Pope Urban VIII himself, an unusual privilege, which was ratified by Philip III. The king also granted Rivera lordship of Castilleja de la Cuesta in compensation for the delay. In 1625, Rivera participated in the Recapture of Bahia from Dutch forces, and shortly after in the defense of Cádiz against the English and the Dutch.
In March 1631, King Philip IV entasked Rivera with leading a 24-ship convoy carrying a large amount of money and four thousand Spanish troops from La Coruña to the Spanish Netherlands in conjunction with Flemish admiral Michael Jacobsen's escort of nine galleons. His success at passing through the Dutch naval blockade led to him being tasked with protecting the Atlantic and heading a relief fleet to Pernambuco.