ALVA de Tormes, a considerable town in Spain, in the kingdom of Leon, and territory of Salamanca, with a very handsome castle. It is seated on the north bank of the river Tormes. Long. 6. 1. W. Lat. 4L 0. N.

Alva, Ferdinand Alvarez of Toledo, Duhe of, was born in 1508, and descended from one of the most illustrious families in Spain. His grandfather, Frederick de Toledo, was his preceptor in the military and political arts; and he displayed his valour at the battle of Pavia and at the siege of Tunis. The ambitious Charles V. selected Alva as a proper instrument for conducting his military enterprises. In 1538 he made him his general; and, after several operations, in which he displayed both valour and military skill, in 1542 he successfully defended Perpignan against the dauphin of France.

In 1546 Alva was made general in chief of the army which marched against the German Protestants, who were marshalled under the banners of the elector of Saxony. Francis, the king of France, died at Rambouillet, and by his death a considerable change was made in the state of Europe. Charles therefore instantly began his march from Egra on the borders of Bohemia, and entering the southern frontier of Saxony, attacked Altorf upon the Elster. Incessantly pushing forward^ he arrived on the evening of the 23d of April on the banks of the Elbe, opposite to Muhlberg. The river at that place was three hundred paces in breadth and about four feet in depth, its current rapid, and the bank possessed by the Saxons was higher than that which he occupied. In opposition to the opinion of the duke of Alva and his other officers, Charles, with undaunted courage, though with inexpressible difficulty, led his army through the river and engaged the Saxons. The elector displayed great personal courage and military knowledge; but having received a wound in the face, he at last surrendered himself prisoner. The emperor proceeded towards Wittenberg, whither the remains of the Saxon army had fled, carrying along with him the captive prince, as a spectacle of consternation and amazement to his own subjects. But when he approached the town, he found it defended by the vigorous efforts of the elector’s wife, along with the inhabitants. He summoned Sibylla once and a second time to open the gates, informing her, that if she persisted in her obstinacy, the elector should answer for it with his head. Accordingly he brought his prisoner to an immediate trial. The proceedings against him were as irregular as the stratagem was barbarous. Instead of consulting the states of [7:2:578]the empire, or remitting the cause to any court, which, according to the German constitution, might have legally taken cognizance of the elector’s crime, he subjected the greatest prince in the empire to the jurisdiction of a court-martial. The emperor selected the unrelenting duke of Alva as a proper instrument to carry into effect any measure of violence and oppression, and therefore made him president of that court, composed of Spanish and Italian officers. Moved more by the entreaties of his wife than by a sense of his own danger, the elector, in order to save his life, submitted to all the rigorous and unjust measures that were proposed; but when it was added, that he should also renounce the Protestant faith and become a Roman Catholic, he refused to act in opposition to his conscience, and bravely fell a sacrifice to the cause of truth.

In 1552 Alva was intrusted with the command of the army intended to invade France, and was constrained by the opinion and authority of the emperor to lay siege to Mentz, in opposition to his own military knowledge; but notwithstanding all his valour and abilities, the duke of Guise successfully defended the place. In consequence of the success of the French arms in Piedmont, he was made commander in chief of all the emperor’s forces in Italy, and at the same time invested with unlimited power. Success did not, however, attend his first attempts, and after several unfortunate attacks he was obliged to retire into winter quarters. The next year he was sent into the pope’s territories; and, had he not been restrained by his master, he would have taken possession of all his fortified places, and deterred Henry from entering into any new connection with him, and have thereby prevented the renewal of the war. Philip was strongly disposed to peace, but Alva was inclined to severe measures: he, however, yielded to the instructions of his master, until being deluded, and sometimes haughtily answered, he at length sent Pino de Loffredo with a letter to the college of cardinals, and another to Paul, in which, after enumerating the various injuries which his master had received, and renewing his former offers of peace and friendship, he concluded with protesting that, if his offers were again rejected, the pope should be chargeable with all the calamities that might follow. The pope threw Loffredo into prison; and, had not the college of cardinals interposed, he would even have put him to death; and on account of Philip’s failing to pay tribute for Naples, he deprived him of the sovereignty of that kingdom. This violent conduct of Paul gave great offence throughout all Europe, and greatly lessened his influence in Italy; but Philip, though a young, ambitious, and powerful monarch, and of a temper impatient of injuries and affronts, moved with a religious veneration, discovered an amazing reluctance to proceed to extremities. After much time spent in negotiation, Philip was at last forced to give orders for Alva to take the field. He cheerfully obeyed, and began his march in the beginning of September 1556, with a well-disciplined army; and after reducing several towns in the Campagna di Roma, he pursued his conquests to the very gates of Rome. The circumstances, however, in which Alva found his army, induced him to make a truce of forty days, and after several negotiations he yielded to peace. One of its terms was, that the duke of Alva should in person ask forgiveness of the haughty pontiff whom he had conquered. Proud as the duke was by nature, and accustomed to treat with persons of the highest dignity, yet such was the superstitious veneration then entertained for the papal character, that he confessed his voice failed him at the interview, and his presence of mind forsook him. Not long after this he was sent at the head of a splendid embassy to Paris, to espouse, in the name of his master, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry, kin∏∙ of France. ^ , c

Philip II., his new master, being strongly devoted to the Roman see, and determined, by the most unrelenting severity and unbounded cruelty, to reclaim rebels to his government and dissenters from his faith, pitched upon Alva as the fittest person to carry this system into practice. With this design, therefore, he was sent into the Low Countries in 1567. Having received his orders, armed with such power as left only the shadow of authority to the natural governor, and provided with 10,000 veterans, he marched towards that devoted country. When he arrived, he soon showed how much he merited the confidence which his master reposed in him, and instantly erected a bloody tribunal to try all persons who had been engaged in the late commotions which the civil and the religious tyranny of Philip had excited. He imprisoned the counts Egmont and Horn, the two popular leaders of the Protestants, and soon brought them to an unjust trial, and condemned them to death. In a little time he totally annihilated every privilege of the people, and, with uncontrolled fury and cruelty, put multitudes of them to death. Beholding herself deprived of all authority, and her subjects devoted to destruction, the duchess of Parma resigned her office, disdaining to hold the nominal, while the actual reins of power were in the hands of Alva. This event increased the general tide of wretchedness, and every place was filled with scenes of horror and dismay. Unable for the present to administer the least aid, the prince of Orange saved his life by flight. This noble prince suddenly collecting an army in Germany, returned to the relief of his countrymen; and at the same time Prince Lewis, his brother, marched with an army into Friesland. Although success at first attended Lewis, yet the activity and experience of Alva prevailed, and he was totally defeated. The prince of Orange proved a more formidable foe; and it required the united talents of Alva and his son Frederick of Toledo to prevent the prince from making a descent upon the Netherlands. But notwithstanding all the address and military skill of the prince of Orange, the descent was prevented; and Alva had the glory of baffling that great leader, and of compelling him, after great loss of men, to disband the remainder of his army. Alva could now indulge his cruelty unrestrained. The executioner was instantly employed in removing all those friends of freedom whom the sword had spared. In most of the considerable towns Alva built citadels. In the city of Antwerp he erected a statue of himself, which was a monument no less of his vanity than of his tyranny: he was figured trampling on the necks of two smaller statues, representing the two estates of the Low Countries. By his unusual and arbitrary demand of new supplies from the states, he greatly aggravated this haughty insult. The exiles from the Low Countries, roused to action by his oppression, fitted out a kind of piratical fleet, and, after strengthening themselves by successful depredations, ventured upon the bold exploit of seizing the town of Bricl. Thus Alva, by his cruelty, became the unwitting instrument of the future independence of the seven Dutch provinces. The fleet of the exiles having met the Spanish fleet, totally defeated it, and reduced North Holland and Mons. Many cities hastened to throw off the yoke: while the states-general assembling at Dordrecht, openly declared against Alva’s government, and marshalled under the banners of the prince of Orange. This situation of affairs convinced Alva of the instability of a government upheld by terror and oppression; he therefore began, when too late, to employ more lenient measures. His preparations to oppose the gathering[7:2:579] storm were concerted with his usual vigour, and the succeeded in recovering Mons, Mechlin, and Zutphen, under the conduct of his son Frederick, where his soldiers more than retaliated upon the prince of Orange. With the exception of Zealand and Holland, he regained all the provinces; and at last his son stormed Waerden, and, massacring its inhabitants with the most savage cruelty, proceeded to invest the city of Haerlem. Fully convinced of the miseries that awaited their surrender, this city stood an obstinate siege; and nothing less than the inflexible and persevering spirit of Alva could have overcome difficulties almost insurmountable. Despairing of success, Frederick was at one time disposed to raise the siege, but the stern reproaches of his father urged him on; and at length the inhabitants, overcome with fatigue, surrendered. The victorious Frederick gaíve tolerable conditions to the town; but his inhuman father arriving on the third day after the surrender, sacrificed to his vengeance many who had been flattered with a promise of mercy. Their next attack was upon Alemaar; but the spirit of desperate resistance was raised to such 'a height in the breasts of the Hollanders, that the Spanish veterans were repulsed with great loss, and Frederick constrained reluctantly to retire. Alva now resolved to try his fortune by sea, and with great labour and expense fitted out a powerful fleet, with which he proceeded to attack the Zealanders, but was entirely defeated, and the commander taken prisoner. About the same period the prince of Orange proceeded to attack the town of Gertruydenberg. Alva’s feeble state of health and continued disasters induced him to solicit his recall from the government of the Low Countries; a measure which, in all probability, was not displeasing to Philip, who was now resolved to make trial of a milder administration. In December 1573 that devoted country was relieved from the presence and oppressions of the duke of Alva, who, returning home, accompanied by his son, made the inglorious boast that during the course of six years, besides the multitudes destroyed in battle and massacred after victory, he had consigned 18,000 persons to the executioner.

Returning from this scene of oppression and blood, he was treated for some time with great distinction by his master. Justice, however, soon overtook the crimes of Alva; for his son, having debauched one of the king’s attendants, under promise of marriage, was committed to prison; and being aided in his escape by his father, and married by him to a cousin of his own, Alva was banished from court, and confined in the castle of Uzeda. In this disgraceful situation he remained two years, when the success of Don Antonio, in assuming the crown of Portugal, determined Philip to turn his eyes towards a person in whose fidelity and abilities he could on this occasion most confide. A secretary was instantly dispatched to Alva, to ascertain whether his health was sufficiently vigorous to enable him to undertake the command of an army. The aged chief returned an answer full of loyal zeal, and was immediately appointed to the supreme command in Portugal. It is a singular fact, however, that the enlargement and elevation of Alva were not followed by forgiveness. It is a characteristic mark of the unrelenting temper of Philip, and, at the same time, a noble testimony to the honour and loyalty of Alva, that although placed in this important trust, he did not procure his pardon. In 1581 Alva entered Portugal, defeated Antonio, drove him from the kingdom, and soon reduced the whole under the subjection of Philip. Entering Lisbon, he seized an immense treasure, and suffered his soldiers, with their accustomed violence and rapacity, to sack the suburbs and vicinity. It is reported, that Alva being requested to give an account of the money expended on that occasion, sternly replied, “If the king asks me for an account, I will make him a statement of kingdoms preserved or conquered, of signal victories, of successful sieges, and of sixty years’ service.” Philip deemed it proper to make no further inquiries. Alva, however, did not enjoy the honours and rewards of his last expedition, for he died in 1582, at the age of 75.