Requesens y Zúñiga, Luis de

Requesens y Zúñiga, Luis de

 

Born Aug. 25, 1528, in Barcelona; died Mar. 5, 1576, in Brussels. Spanish military and political figure. Admiral of the Spanish Mediterranean fleet (1568–71); participant in the battle of Lepanto (1571).

Requesens became the Spanish governor of the Netherlands (succeeding the Duke of Alva) in 1573, at the height of the Netherlands bourgeois revolution. By means of minor concessions, negotiations, and military pressure, he attempted unsuccessfully to compel the insurgent northern provinces to surrender.