HumanitiesHistoryEuropean HistoryHistoriographyMilitary HistoryMedieval KingshipMedieval WarfareConquest Of ToledoImperial HegemonyImplications Of Personal HistoryRelationship With Philip IiRepressive InstitutionsRepressive State Apparatuses
Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, third duke of Alba (1507-1582), is known to history as the butcher of Flanders. The general who carried out Philip II's repressive policies in Netherlands, he was responsible for massacre of thousands of men, women and children, considering it better to lay waste an entire country than leave it in hands of heretics. Alba came to represent for contemporaries as well as for future generations unacceptable face of Spanish imperialism. In this intriguing re-evaluation, Henry Kamen narrates duke's personal history, looking beyond conventional image to reveal motives and to explain rather than simply to condemn. Kamen examines early years of Alba's life, his travels over whole of Europe, and complex military and political career that made him Spain's leading general of imperial age. Drawing on duke's rich and expressive surviving correspondence, Kamen explores Alba's beliefs and considers his infamous actions within contexts of his time and of monarchs - Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain - whom he served.