Álvaro de Bazán, 2nd Marquis of Santa Cruz

Who was Álvaro de Bazán, 2nd Marquis of Santa Cruz?

Álvaro de Bazán, 2nd Marquis of Santa Cruz, a.k.a. Álvaro de Bazán y Benavides, a.k.a. Alvaro II de Bazán, was the son of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz.

Not as famous as his father, Alvaro II had nevertheless a distinguished military career, as well as on land as on sea.

He was Governor of the Duchy of Milan, Maestro de Campo General in Flanders under the Governess of the Spanish Netherlands Isabel Clara Eugenia, a Spanish Navy commander and Army land General during the Thirty Years War, Member of the Spanish Councils of War and the State Council, Marquis of El Viso, Lord of Valdepeñas, and a Grandee of Spain.

Älvaro II main military actions were:

1596 Defense of Cádiz against the attack of the English Fleet sent by Queen Elizabeth I of England.

1602 At Sesimbra Bay commanding three galleys where he was defeated by an English fleet under William Monson and Richard Leveson.

1603 Captain General of the Galleys of the kingdom of Naples.

1604 Naval actions in the Mediterranean African Coast, Longo Island.

1605 Siege and Conquest of Estarcho and the City of Durazzo, on the Albanian Coast