Alessandro Farnese – Nephew of Philip II, Commander of the Armies of Spain in the Low Countries, and Object of Scorn to Elizabeth I

CNG 102, Lot: 1332. Estimate $5000. Sold for $7000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Parma (ducato). Alessandro Farnese. 1586-1591. AR Mezzo Ducatone (37mm, 15.53 g, 4h). Dated 1574, but struck in 1588. ALEXANDER · FARN · DVX · III ·, cuirassed bust right; lis below bust / ISTIS 1574 DVCIBVS, The Three Graces standing each with foot on the arms of Parma, set on ground. CNI IX 24; Morosini 13; MIR 968/1. Near VF, toned. Very rare.

Ex Ranieri 4 (26 October 2012), lot 439.

Alessandro Farnese was the son of Ottavio Farnese, the second Duke of Parma, and Margaret, the illegitimate daughter of the Holy Roman emperor, Charles V. His mother’s status in no way hindered her relations with her half-brother Philip II; in turn, Alessandro Farnese appears to have enjoyed a similar relationship with his uncle. In 1578, he was appointed Governor General of the Netherlands. A keen warrior who fought at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, he had the opportunity to display his military skills against the Netherlandish rebels who had since revolted against Spain. As a result, Farnese was able to return the southern provinces to the Spanish throne, a process that was concluded with the Treaty of Arras in 1579.

Alessandro Farnese is somewhat better known for his role in the events of the Spanish Armada. Succeeding his father as Duke of Parma in 1586 (from which title Farnese is more famously remembered), he continued to remain in the Netherlands and attempted to get royal sanction to invade England immediately, which was actively supporting the Dutch rebels, and hope for a native Catholic insurrection against the government. Although he overruled Parma in this, since his commander would be without naval support, Philip nevertheless thought enough of the plan to begin assembling the fleet that would become the Armada. Once the Armada was able to coordinate with Parma’s forces, the invasion of England would take place. Miscommunication, however, between the Armada’s commander, Medina Sidonia, and Parma, along with the Anglo-Dutch victory at Gravelines, as well as the increasingly unfavorable weather, defeated the Armada and its purpose. Following the defeat of the Armada, Parma broke camp at Dunkirk, which was to be his launching point, and retired.

Shortly after Gravelines, when the threat of invasion was still a possibility, the Earl of Leicester assembled an army at Tilbury, on the Thames estuary, where it was thought that the invaders would strike. There, Elizabeth I visited the troops and is reported to have presented a speech designed to raise their morale. In what is probably its most famous section, the Duke of Parma (or any invader) is viewed with scorn:

I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king – and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.