Pedro Téllez Girón, III Duke of Osuna

Pedro Téllez Girón, III Duke of Osuna (1574-1624) was an important military and political player in the history of the Spanish Monarchy in the first two decades of the seventeenth century. After distinguishing himself on the battlefields of Flanders, he began a rapid political rise, helped by strong family ties: Osuna in fact agreed to the marriage of his eldest son with one of the daughters of the Duke of Uceda, the heir of the Duke of Lerma, Philip III’s powerful favourite. Osuna was first appointed Viceroy of Sicily (1610-1616) and then Viceroy of Naples (1616-1620). Both in Palermo and Napoles, however, the Duke aroused stiff opposition from a major and important part of the aristocracy and in order to combat them the viceroy did not hesitate to lean on the populace. In 1620, the tense situation generated by the policies of the representative of the populace in the municipal parliament Giulio Genoino, chosen by Osuna himself, inspired an investigation (visita) regarding the viceroy’s policies. He returned to Madrid to respond to the allegations, being arrested in April 1621, just a few days after the death of Philip III and the consequent end of the power of the Duke of Uceda and his family. Now devoid of patrons, Osuna died in prison in 1624 without knowing the sentence of the trial.

Read more :

• M. Schipa, La pretesa fellonia del duca di Ossuna (1619-1620), in «Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane», XXXV (1910), pp. 459-484, 637-660; XXXVI (1911), pp. 56-85, 286-288, 475-506, 710-750; XXXVII (1912), pp. 211-241, 341-411.
• E. Beládiez, El gran duque de Osuna: calavera, soldado, virrey, “un Girón”, Madrid 1996.
• L.M. Linde, Don Pedro Girón, duque de Osuna: la hegemonía española en Europa a comienzos del siglo XVII, Madrid 2005.