The Renaissance

soon sending voyages of conquest and
colonization. In 1494, Spain and Portugal
agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which
set a boundary to their respective spheres
of colonization. In the following years,
Spanish explorers and conquistadores
would establish colonies in the Caribbean,
Mexico, Central America, and Peru; im-
mense sums of silver and gold were
brought to Spain from these colonies and
much of the western hemisphere became a
Spanish-speaking dominion.

Ferdinand disputed control of north-
ern Italy with France, after coming to the
defense of his cousin Alfonso II, the king
of Naples who was expelled by the French
in 1494. Spain allied with the emperor
Maximilian I and ejected the French from
Italy in 1496, after which Alfonso’s son,
Ferdinand, became the king of Naples. Af-
ter this king’s death in 1501, Ferdinand of
Spain agreed with King Louis XII of
France to divide Italy between them. The
treaty failed, however, and gradually the
powerful Spanish armies took control of
Naples and ended French claims to that
kingdom. Ferdinand later signed the Treaty
of Westminster with King Henry VIII of
England, allying the two countries against
the rising power of France. In the same
year, Ferdinand added the kingdom of Na-
varre, a frontier territory between Spain
and France, to the kingdom of Spain.

After the death of Isabella in 1504, Fer-
dinand kept control of Castile by acting as
regent for their daughter Joanna. Also
known asla loca(the insane) or Joan the
Mad, Joanna proved herself incapable of
ruling, which left Castile under Ferdinand’s
control until his death in 1516. On this
event, his grandson Charles became king
of Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, and
later the Holy Roman Emperor as Charles
V, concentrating more power in his hands

than any European ruler since the time of

Charlemagne.

SEEALSO: Charles V; Columbus, Christo-

pher; Isabella of Castile; Spain

Fernando Alvarez de Toledo .............

(1507–1582)

The hereditary Duke of Alba, a skilled

military commander and a Spanish gover-

nor of the Low Countries, whose reign

over the Dutch was known for its cruelty.

In 1525, he took part in the Battle of Pa-

via, a key event in the Italian Wars in

which the king of France was taken pris-

oner. Showing skill and daring in the field,

he was appointed by Emperor Charles V

to lead the siege of Tunis, a city on the

North African coast, in 1535. In 1547, he

also took part in the Battle of Mühlberg,

where the emperor defeated an alliance of

German Protestant princes. When Charles

V abdicated the throne, his successor

Philip II kept Alvarez in his service, giving

Alba appointments as military commander

and sending the duke abroad at the head

of an important embassy to the king of

France.

Pleased with Alvarez’s service, Philip

sent Alba to the Netherlands in 1567, with

his mission being to put down Dutch

rebels who were fighting for their Protes-

tant faith and for independence from

Spain. Alba marched an army of ten thou-

sand Spanish troops into the city of Brus-

sels and set up a court, commonly known

as the Council of Blood, that tried and ex-

ecuted thousands of Philip’s opponents,

including members of the nobility who

had supported the rebellion. His most un-

popular measure, however, was the impo-

sition of a heavy tax, known as theal-

cabala, on the sale of any and all goods.

Alba’s enemies organized a large fleet,

known as the Sea Beggars, to oppose the

Fernando Alvarez de Toledo