Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia
| Alonso Pérez de Guzmán | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
10 September 1550 Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, Crown of Castile, Spain |
| Died | 26 July 1615 (aged 64) Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz, Castile, Spain |
| Allegiance |
 Spain
|
| Service/branch |
 Spanish Navy
|
| Rank |
Captain-General of the Ocean Sea Captain-General of the Coast of Andalusia |
| Commands held |
Invasion of England ('the Spanish Armada') |
| Battles/wars |
Cadiz Gravelines (Anglo–Spanish War (1585–1604)) |
Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia (10 September 1550 – 26 July 1615), Grandee of Spain, a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1581, was the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada.
His father was Juan Carlos Pérez de Guzmán, died 1556. Juan Carlos died two years before his own father, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, thus he did not inherit the ducal title and died as the 9th Count of Niebla only.
His paternal grandmother was Ana de Aragón y de Gurrea, died 1528, one of the daughters, "born out of sin", of Alonso de Aragón y Ruiz de Iborra, Archbishop of Zaragoza, himself an illegitimate son of king Ferdinand II of Aragón. In 1518 she had married two Dukes of Medina Sidonia: firstly with Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia, died childless, 1548, formally declared "mentecato", (out of his mind, unfit to reason properly), and then again, in the same year with the 5th Duke's brother, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia, (24 March 1502, died Sanlúcar de Barrameda, province of Cádiz, Spain, 26 November 1558).
His mother was a most powerful and wealthy lady, Leonor de Zúñiga y Sotomayor, herself daughter of a powerful duchess, Teresa de Zúñiga, 2nd marchioness of Ayamonte, 3rd duchess of Béjar, 4th countess of Bañares, 2nd marchioness of Gibraleón, so it was her name Zúñiga, the one to be passed to the family, as she was married to a "Sotomayor" of a family less endowed with nobility titles, county of Belalcázar, something by no means unique in the High Spanish Nobility of the time.
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Wikipedia