Alva, or ALBA, FERDINAND ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, DUKE OF, prime minister and general of the Spanish armies under Charles V. and Philip II., was born in 1508, of one of the most illustrious families of Spain. He entered the army a mere youth, and gave such proofs of his courage and capacity for command in the battle of Pavia (1525), in Hungary in battles against the Turks, in Charles V.'s expedition to Tunis and Algiers, and in Provence, that he rose quickly from rank to rank, becoming general at twenty-six, and commander-in-chief at thirty years of age. His skilful defence of Navarre and Catalonia gained him his rank as Duke of Alva. In 1547 he contributed greatly to the victory which Charles V. gained at Mühlberg over John Frederick, Elector of Saxony. Under his influence, as president of the council of war, the captive elector was condemned to death; and it was entirely against his wish that the emperor commuted the sentence. He took part under the emperor in the unsuccessful expedition against Henry II., king of France, who had taken possession of Metz; but was more fortunate in his next campaign (in 1555) in Italy, against the combined armies of the pope and the French king. After the abdication of Charles V. in 1556, Alva continued to hold the command of the army, and overran the States of the Church, but was obliged by the command of Philip II. to conclude a peace with Pope Paul IV., and restore all his conquests. Being recalled from Italy, he appeared in 1559 at the court of France, and as proxy for his sovereign espoused Elizabeth, Henry II.'s daughter.
When the inhabitants of the Netherlands, who had been accustomed to freedom, revolted against the tyranny of Spain, and especially against the hated Inquisition, the Duke of Alva's counsel was to suppress the insurrection with rigour. The king accordingly sent him to the Netherlands in 1567, with unlimited power and a large military force. His first step on arriving was to establish what was called the 'Bloody Council,' in which he himself at first presided, and over which he afterwards appointed the sanguinary Don Juan de Vargas. This tribunal condemned all without distinction whose opinions appeared dubious, or whose wealth excited jealousy. The present and the absent, the living and the dead, were subjected alike to trial, and their property confiscated by the council. As many as 100,000 abandoned their native country, many of them industrious artisans, mechanics, and merchants, who emigrated to England, while many others enlisted under the banners of the proscribed princes, Louis and William of Orange. Alva, rendered still more savage by a defeat which befell his lieutenant, the Duke of Aremberg, sent Counts Egmont and Horn to the block. He afterwards defeated Prince Louis, and compelled William of Orange to retire to Germany; upon which he entered Brussels in the greatest triumph on the 22d December 1568. The pope presented him with a consecrated hat and sword, as Defender of the Catholic faith; an honour which, having been hitherto conferred only on crowned heads, increased his insolence to the highest degree. His executioners shed more blood than his soldiers; and none now withstood his arms except Holland and Zealand. But these provinces continually renewed their efforts against him, and succeeded in destroying the fleet which had been equipped by his orders. Recalled by his own desire in 1573, he resigned the command of the troops to the mild Don Louis de Requesens, and left the country, in which, as he himself boasted, he had executed 18,000 men. The war which he had kindled burned for nearly seventy years, and cost Spain untold treasure, her finest troops, and the loss of seven of the richest provinces of the Netherlands.
Alva soon lost the royal favour for sheltering his son from the consequences of a misdemeanour, and retired to his castle, till, in 1580, he was recalled to a command in the war against Portugal, the crown of which Philip claimed as his hereditary right. He quickly drove out Don Antonio, who, as grandson of John III., had taken possession of the throne, and overran the whole country with his accustomed cruelty and rapacity; he seized the treasures of the capital himself, while he allowed the soldiers to plunder without mercy the suburbs and the surrounding country. Philip, dissatisfied with these proceedings, desired to have an investigation of the conduct of the duke; but the haughty bearing of the latter, and the fear of a revolt, induced him to abandon it. Shortly after, Alva died at Thomar, 12th January 1582, at the age of 74. He had a haughty carriage, a hard voice, and a dark and gloomy countenance. He was cruel, avaricious, and a fanatical bigot. It has been said of him, that during sixty years of military service he never lost a battle, and never allowed himself to be surprised. See Motley's Dutch Republic (1856).