Alonso de Cárdenas (Madrid, c. 1592 – Madrid, 18 August 1666) was the Spanish ambassador to London between 1638 and 1655, during the English Commonwealth.
Biography
He was the second son of Urbán de Peralta and Elvira de Cárdenas y Figueroa, sister of the Count of La Puebla del Maestre. He used his mother's surname whose family was higher in nobility than his father's. His political career at Court was facilitated thanks to his family's connections.
In 1638, King Philip IV of Spain named him Envoy ad interim, to replace the inexperienced Count of Oñate as Ambassador in London. He would stay in England for the next 17 years.[1]
He was tasked with negotiating a potential alliance between Spain and the English Republic, but the talks stalled. He rejected several demands from Oliver Cromwell by declaring that this was asking Philip IV "to give up his two eyes".[2] Cárdenas was withdrawn from his post following news that English forces had attacked Hispaniola as part of the Western Design, beginning the Anglo-Spanish War.[3] Cromwell then aligned the Republic with Spain's enemy France.
Cárdenas also acted for his king and other Spanish collectors in the sales breaking up the art collection of Charles I.[4]
Cárdenas was later the emissary of Philip to Charles II's exiled court in Brussels. In 1656 Cárdenas signed the Treaty of Brussels on behalf of Spain. It allied Madrid with the exiled British and Irish Royalists against their common enemies the English Commonwealth and France.[5]
He returned to Spain in 1660 and worked for the Council of the Indies. He received the title of Viscount of Villahermosa and died in 1666 without issue.
References
Bibliography
- Aubrey, Philip. Mr Secretary Thurloe: Cromwell's Secretary of State, 1652-1660. Athlone Press, 1990.
- Hainsworth, Roger. The Swordsmen in Power: War and Politics under the English Republic, 1649-1660. Sutton Publishing, 1997.