Farnese, Alessandro, duke di Parma and Piacenza

Farnese, Alessandro, 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.