José Patiño

Don José Patiño y Rosales (April 11, 1666 – November 3, 1736), Spanish statesman who served as acting First Secretary of State of Spain from 1734 to 1736, was born at Milan.

His father, Don Lucas Patiño de Ibarra, Señor de Castelar, who was by origin a Galician, was a member of the privy council and inspector of the troops in the Duchy of Milan for the king of Spain, to whom it then, belonged. His mother's maiden name was Beatrice de Rosales y Facini.

The Patiño family were strong supporters of the Bourbon dynasty in the War of the Spanish Succession. The elder brother Baltasar, afterwards marquis of Castelar, had a distinguished career as a diplomatist, and his son Lucas was a general of some note. José Patiño, who had been intended for the priesthood but adopted a secular career, was granted the reversion of a seat in the senate of Milan on the accession of Philip V in 1700. but on the loss of the duchy he was transferred to Spain, and put on the governing body of the military orders in 1707.

During the War of Succession he served as intendant of Extremadura, and then of Catalonia from 1711 to 1718. In 1717 he was named intendant of the navy, which had just been reorganized on the French model. His capacity and his faculty for hard work secured him the approval of Giulio Alberoni, with whom, however, he was never on very friendly terms in private life. Patiño's Italian education, which affected his Spanish style, and caused him to fall into Italianisms all through his life, may have served to recommend him still further.

Patiño profoundly distrusted the reckless foreign policy undertaken by Alberoni under the instigation of the king and his obstinate queen, Elizabeth Farnese. He foretold that it would lead to disaster, but as a public servant he could only obey orders, and he had the chief merit of organizing the various expeditions sent out to Sardinia, Sicily and Ceuta between 1718 and 1720. He became known to the king and queen in the latter year, while he was acting as a species of commissary-general during the disastrous operations against the French troops on the frontier of Navarre in the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

...
Wikipedia