Bernardino de Mendoza

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Bernardino de Mendoza (c.1540 – August 3, 1604) was a Spanish military commander, a diplomat and a writer on military history and politics.

Life and works

Bernardino de Mendoza was born in Guadalajara, Spain around 1540. In 1560, he joined the army of King Philip II and for more than fifteen years fought in the Low Countries under the command of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva. In 1576, he was appointed a member of the military order of St. James (Orden militar de Santiago) in recognition of his military achievements.

In 1578, Philip II sent Mendoza as his ambassador to London. There he acted not only as diplomat but also as spy, using a variety of secret codes in the reports he returned to Spain. He was expelled from England in 1584 after his involvement in Francis Throckmorton's plot against Queen Elizabeth I was revealed.

For the next six years, Bernardino de Mendoza served as Spanish ambassador to the king of France. In 1590, he resigned due to ill health. His eyesight had been deteriorating for years and by the time of his return to Spain, he had become completely blind. His last years were spent in his house in Madrid.

Among Mendoza's writings is a famous account of the war in the Low Countries entitled Comentario de lo sucecido en los Paises Bajos desde el año 1567 hasta el de 1577. Bernardino also published a book on the art of warfare under the title Teoria y práctica de la guerra and a Spanish translation of the Politicorum sive civilis doctrinae libri sex of the Flemish philosopher Justus Lipsius.

References

Miguel Cabañas Agrela (ed.), Bernardino de Mendoza, un escritor soldado al servicio de la monarquía católica (1540-1604), Diputación de Guadalajara: 2001.

External links

() [Biography of Bernardino de Mendoza] by Prof. Dr. Antonio Herrera Casado.

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