Spinola, Ambrogio

Spinola, Ambrogio (ämbrô`jō spē`nōlä), 1569–1630, Spanish general, b. Italy, of a noble Genoese family. In 1602, Spinola entered Spanish service in the Netherlands. He took (1604) Ostend from Maurice of Nassau after a long siege and then carried the war into the northern provinces. Named commander in chief in the Netherlands by Philip II in 1605, Spinola negotiated the 12-year truce of 1609. Early in the Thirty Years War he led (1620) an army into the Palatinate against the Protestant Union; the following year he was created marqués de los Balbases by Philip IV. After the resumption (1621) of the fighting in the Netherlands, Spinola returned there and captured (1625) Breda. However, his conciliatory policy lost him the favor of Philip IV, who appointed him (1629) governor of Milan. Spinola died while trying to take Casale in the War of the Mantuan Succession.