Alessandro Farnese, duke di Parma and Piacenza summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Alessandro Farnese.

Alessandro Farnese, duke di Parma and Piacenza, (born Aug. 27, 1545, Rome—died Dec. 3, 1592, Arras, France), Regent of the Netherlands (1578–92) for Philip II of Spain. He was educated at the court of Madrid, where he had been sent to prove his father’s loyalty to the Habsburgs. In 1578 Philip II appointed him governor-general of the Netherlands, where his mother, Margaret of Parma, had been regent earlier. His great achievement was the restoration of Spanish rule in the southern provinces and perpetuation of Roman Catholicism there. He succeeded by astute statesmanship and military operations against the alliance of rebellious Protestant provinces led by William the Silent. In 1586 he succeeded his father as duke of Parma and Piacenza, but he never returned to Italy to rule.

army Summary

Army, a large organized armed force trained for war, especially on land. The term may be applied to a large unit organized for independent action, or it may be applied to a nation’s or ruler’s complete military organization for land warfare. Throughout history, the character and organization of

government Summary

Government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not

Roman Catholicism Summary

Roman Catholicism, Christian religion that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. It is led by the pope, as the bishop of Rome, and the Holy See forms the