Manuel de Zúñiga y Fonseca, Count of Monterrey

Manuel de Zúñiga y Fonseca, Count of Monterrey (1586-1653) was an important figure in the government of the Spanish monarchy during the reign of Philip IV (1621-1665). Fundamental to his career was the close family ties with the Count-Duke of Olivares, the favourite of the king: Monterrey had married a sister of the latter, and Olivares, in turn, had married a sister of the count, Inés de Zúñiga. Initially intended for an ecclesiastical career, Monterrey experienced a rapid political rise with the beginning of the reign of Philip IV: a former minister of the Council of State (Consejo de Estado) he was later appointed president of the Council of Italy (Consejo de Italia) and then sent to Rome as ambassador of Spain to the Holy See. In May 1631, he succeeded the Duke of Alcalá in most lucrative of all viceroyalties of the Habsburg Monarchy, that of Naples. He held that position until November 1637. His subsequent failure to use the army to quell the revolt in Portugal, along with the end of power, in 1643, of the Count-Duke of Olivares, his main patron, sanctioned the end of his political and military career.

Read more:

• J.H. Elliott, The Count-Duke of Olivares. The Statesman in an Age of Decline, New Haven 1986.
• R. Villari, Un sogno di libertà. Napoli nel declino di in impero, 1585-1648, Milano 2012.