Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, ) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a Spanish noble, general and diplomat. Alba achieved notoriety for his actions during the Eighty Years' War in the Spanish Netherlands, where his prolonged military campaigns and harsh repression failed to suppress the Dutch revolt. Born into a prominent Castilian military family, Alba first distinguished himself in the 1535 conquest of Tunis during the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars as part of a long conflict for predominance over the western Mediterranean Sea. He then commanded the Spanish troops at the Battle of Mühlberg (1547), where the army of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V defeated the German Protestant princes in the Schmalkaldic War. Alba was the commander-in-chief of the Spanish-Habsburg army during the Italian War of 1551–1559, and became governor of Milan in 1555 and viceroy of Naples in 1556. In 1567, King Philip II of Spain appointed Alba governor of the Netherlands and tasked him with the suppression of Dutch rebels. Alba instituted the Council of Troubles, which led to the condemnations