Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma
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His Eminence Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas |
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| Other posts |
Cardinal-priest of San Sisto Duke of Lerma |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | March 1622 |
| Created Cardinal | 26 March 1618 by Pope Paul V |
| Rank | Cardinal-priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1553 Tordesillas, Castile and León, Spain |
| Died | 17 May 1625 (aged 72) Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Previous post | Valido of the Spanish Empire |
Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma (1552/1553 – 17 May 1625), a favourite of Philip III of Spain, was the first of the validos ('most worthy') through whom the later Habsburg monarchs ruled. He was succeeded by Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares.
The family of Sandoval was ancient and powerful. Lerma was born and raised at Tordesillas. As long as Philip II lived, the nobles had little effective share in the government, with the exception of a few who were appointed viceroys or commanded armies abroad. The future duke of Lerma passed his time as a courtier, and made himself a favourite with the young prince Philip, heir to the Spanish throne. The dying king Philip II foresaw that Lerma was one of those nobles who were likely to mislead the new sovereign. The old king’s fears were, it is claimed by some, fully justified after his death. Others however, claim that Lerma was a fully capable favourite, as he led Castile and the Habsburg dominions on a more modest and economically viable course of peace than both Phillip II and Olivares during the reign of Phillip IV - both figures that have received far more positive recognition by historians.
No sooner was Philip III king than he entrusted all authority to his favourite, who amassed power unprecedented for a privado or favorite and became the "king's shadow," the filter through whom all information passed, as he was appointed Sumiller de Corps and Caballerizo mayor to the King. Philip III, preoccupied with piety and indolence, soon created him Duke of Lerma (1599), pressured the papacy to form for his uncle Bernardo, a Cardinalship and delegated to him governorship of certain public offices and management responsibility of particular lands, authorized by the King and Queen, of the Roman Catholic Christian Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon.
Gifts poured in from outside the royal court. From the Medici in Florence in 1601 came an over-lifesize marble of Samson and a Philistine by Giovanni da Bologna, presented as a diplomatic gift. It had been made for a Medici garden, and though it had recently been in storage, it was a princely gift (now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London). Lerma assembled a vast collection of paintings. Duke Mario Farnese sent over a Fra Angelico Annunciation (it was a little old-fashioned), which Lerma passed on to the Dominicans of Valladolid and is now at the Prado, Madrid.
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