Spanish general and political figure (1629?1679)
John Joseph of Austria
or
John of Austria (the Younger)
(
Spanish
:
Don Juan Jose de Austria
; 7 April 1629 ? 17 September 1679) was a Spanish
general
and
political figure
. He was the only illegitimate son of
Philip IV of Spain
to be acknowledged by the King and trained for military command and political administration.
Don
John advanced the causes of the Spanish Crown militarily and diplomatically at
Naples
,
Sicily
,
Catalonia
, the
Netherlands
,
Portugal
,
Dunkirk
, and other fronts. He was the governor of the Southern Netherlands from 1656 to 1659. He remained a popular hero even as the fortunes of
Imperial Spain
began to decline. His feuds with his father's widow, Queen
Mariana of Austria
, led to a 1677 palace coup through which he exiled Mariana and took control of the monarchy of his half-brother
Charles II of Spain
. However, he proved far from the saviour Spain had hoped he would be. He remained in power until his death in 1679.
Early life
[
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]
His mother was
Maria "La Calderona" Calderon
, a popular actress, who was forced into a convent shortly after his birth.
[1]
He was raised in
Leon
by a woman of modest circumstances who likely did not know his parentage, though he received "a careful education" at
Ocana
(
Toledo
).
[2]
[3]
In 1642, the King recognized him officially as his son, creating him a prince (Serenity) and John began his life's career as a military representative of his father's interests.
Military career
[
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]
Don John was sent in 1647 to
Naples
, then in the throes of the popular rising first led by
Masaniello
, with a naval squadron and a military force, to support the viceroy.
[4]
He ordered his land and sea forces to blockade the rebel held city while
Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, 4th Duke of Arcos
inserted agents. Don John waited until the exhaustion of the insurgents and the follies of their French leader,
Henry II, Duke of Guise
allowed him to move in and crush the remains of the revolt and drive out the, by then, despised French.
He was next sent as viceroy to
Sicily
, whence he was recalled in 1651 to complete the pacification of the
Principality of Catalonia
, which had been in revolt since 1640. On the way to Catalonia to assume his position, he
captured the French galleon
Lion Couronne
, with a squadron of galleys he had under his command. The high-handedness of the French, whom the Catalans had called in to help their revolt, had produced a reaction, and many switched their loyalties back to the Spanish King. By the time Don John assumed command, most of Catalonia had been recovered and he had not much more to do than to preside over the final siege of
Barcelona
and the convention which terminated the revolt in October 1652.
[4]
On both occasions, he played the peacemaker, and this sympathetic part, combined with his own pleasant manners, engaging personality, and a handsome person with bright eyes made him a popular royal favourite. In 1656, he was sent to command in
Flanders
, then in revolt against his own sovereign. At the storming of the French camp at
Battle of Valenciennes
in 1656, Don Juan Jose displayed great personal courage at the head of a brilliantly executed cavalry charge that caught the French totally by surprise. When, however, he took a part in the leadership of the army at the
Battle of the Dunes
, fought against the French under
Turenne
and the British forces sent by
Oliver Cromwell
, he was decisively defeated and failed to raise the
Siege of Dunkirk
, in spite of the efforts of
Louis II de Conde
, whose invaluable advice he neglected, and the stubborn fight put up by his own troops.
[4]
During 1661 and 1662, he fought against the Portuguese in
Extremadura
. The Spanish troops were ill-supplied and irregularly paid and in a rugged, hostile country. Morale was poor and they were untrustworthy but they were superior in numbers and some successes were gained. If Don John had not suffered from the indolence which
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
considered his chief defect, the Portuguese might have been hard-pressed. John's forces overran the greater part of southern Portugal, but in 1663, with the Portuguese forces
reinforced by a body of English troops
, and put under the command of the Huguenot
Schomberg
, Don John was completely beaten at
Ameixial
.
[4]
Even so, he might not have lost the confidence of his father, if
Queen Mariana
, mother of the sickly Infante
Charles
, the only surviving legitimate son of the king, had not regarded him with distrust and dislike. Don John was removed from command and sent to his command at
Consuegra
.
Opposition to Queen Mariana of Spain
[
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]
After the death of Philip IV in 1665, Don John became the recognized leader of the opposition to the government of Philip's widow, the regent. She and her favourite, the German Jesuit
Juan Everardo Nithard
, seized and put to death one of his most trusted servants, Don Jose Malladas.
[4]
Don John, in return, put himself at the head of a rising of
Aragon
and
Catalonia
, which led to the expulsion of Nithard on 25 February 1669. Don John was, however, forced to content himself with the viceroyalty of Aragon. In 1677, the queen mother aroused universal opposition by her favour for
Fernando de Valenzuela
. Don John was able to drive her from court and establish himself as prime minister. Great hopes were entertained for his administration, but it proved disappointing and short; Don John died, perhaps by poison,
[5]
on 17 September 1679.
[4]
Popish Plot
[
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]
His name featured prominently in the
Popish Plot
fabricated by the notorious
informer
Titus Oates
in England in 1678. Oates unwisely claimed to have met Don John in Madrid; when questioned closely by
Charles II of England
, who had met Don John in
Brussels
in 1656, it became clear that Oates had no idea what he looked like, confirming the King's suspicion that the Plot was an invention.
Ancestry
[
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]
Ancestors of John Joseph of Austria
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References
[
edit
]
- Dunlop, John C.
1834.
Memoirs of Spain during the Reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II. from 1621 to 1700,
vol. II. Thomas Clark: Edinburgh.
- Stolicka, Ondrej. Different German Perspectives on Spanish Politics in the 1670s: The Reaction of Vienna and Berlin on the Coup of Juan Jose de Austria in the Year 1677, JEHM 23(4), 2019, pp. 367?385.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Madame D'Aulnoy (1930).
Travels Into Spain.
Oxford: OxfordCurzon, reprint of 1691.
- ^
Rodriguez, Ignacio Ruiz. 2007.
Don Juan Jose de Austria en la monarquia hispanica: Entre La Politica, El Poder Y La Intriga.
Madrid: Dykinson.
- ^
An example of how el conde-duque
Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares
managed to keep the king's illegitimate children secret is recounted in the chapter titled "A Sprig of the House of Austria," in Hume's collection of essays
The Year After the Armada
(1896).
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
John, Don
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 447.
- ^
Hume, Martin Andrew Sharp
. 1896.
The year after the Armada: and other historical studies.
New York: Macmillan, p. 292.
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