Believed to have been born in 1552, Francisco de Sandoval was the son of Francisco de Rojas de Sandoval, Count of Lerma and Marquis of
Denia. His mother was Isabelle de
Borgia, daughter of Saint
Francis Borgia,
Duke of Gandía and
General of the
Jesuit Order.
Influence The family of Sandoval was ancient and powerful. The future duke of Lerma was born and raised at
Tordesillas. As long as
Philip II lived, the nobles had little effective share in the government, with the exception of a few who were appointed viceroys or commanded armies abroad. Lerma passed his time as a courtier, and made himself a
favourite with the young prince
Philip, heir to the Spanish throne. The dying King Philip II foresaw that Lerma was one of those nobles who were likely to mislead the new sovereign. The old king's fears were, it is claimed by some, fully justified after his death. Others however, claim that Lerma was a fully capable favourite, as he led
Castile and the
Habsburg dominions on a more modest and economically viable course of peace than both Phillip II and Olivares during the reign of
Philip IV – both figures that have received far more positive recognition by historians. According to Friar
Juan Fernández de Medrano in 1601, Lerma was viewed by his contemporaries as the singular soul and guiding force of the
Spanish monarchy, a leader whose virtues illuminated the kingdom like the Sun governing the heavens. He was seen as "a natural and divinely appointed leader, uniquely capable of maintaining unity and harmony within the state."
Foreign policy at
Lerma. As chief minister Lerma's ideas of foreign policy were firmly grounded in feudal ideas about royal patrimony. He cemented Spanish rule by many marriage alliances with the Austrian
Habsburgs and then with the French
Bourbons. Lerma's administration began by making peace with
France, in the 1598
Treaty of Vervins in 1598, but he persisted in costly and useless
hostilities with England till 1604, when Spain was forced by exhaustion to make peace. Lerma used all his influence against a recognition of the independence of the Low Countries. Though in 1607 the monarchy declared itself bankrupt, Lerma carried out the ruinous measures for the
expulsion of the Moriscos, Moors who had converted to Christianity, from 1609–14, a decision affecting over 300,000 people. A policy motivated by religious and political considerations, in which no economic consideration played a part, the expulsion secured him the admiration of the clergy and was popular with the masses of people. It also provided a short-term boost to the royal treasury from the impounded property of the Moors, but would ruin the economy of
Valencia for generations. Lerma's financial horizons remained medieval: his only resources as a finance minister were the debasing of the coinage and edicts against luxury and the making of silver plate. Bankrupt or not, the war with the Dutch dragged on till 1609, when the
Twelve Years' Truce was signed with them. There was constant anti-Spanish agitation in
Portugal, which had been dynastically
joined to Spain since 1580.
Deposition statue of Lerma at the
Colegio de San Gregorio, by
Juan de Arfe In the end, Lerma was deposed by a palace intrigue carried out by his own son,
Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda, manipulated by
Olivares. It is probable that he would never have lost the confidence of Philip III, who divided his life between festivals and prayers, if not for the domestic treachery of his son, who allied himself with the King's confessor,
Luis de Aliaga Martínez, whom Lerma had introduced. After a long intrigue in which the King remained silent and passive, Lerma was at last compelled to leave the court, on 4 October 1618. As a protection, and as a means of retaining some measure of power in case he fell from favour, he had persuaded
Pope Paul V to create him cardinal, the previous March (1618). He retired to the
Ducal Palace of Lerma, and then to
Valladolid, where it was reported that he celebrated Mass every day "with great devotion and tears". When the dying Philip III was presented with a list of prisoners and exiles to be forgiven, he granted grace to all except the cardinal-duke of Lerma. When Lerma learned the news, he started from Valladolid to Madrid but was intercepted on the road and commanded by Olivares, favorite of the heir to the throne, who professed an implacable hatred for the cardinal, to return to Valladolid. The Cardinal was in
Villacastín and remained there until he learned of the death of the King. Then he went back to Valladolid to celebrate the requiem in the
church of San Pablo. He was ordered by the count of Olivares to reside in
Tordesillas but he did not obey and appealed to
Pope Gregory XV and the
College of Cardinals defended him, considering his banishment an attempt against ecclesiastical freedom and the prestige of the cardinalate. Under the reign of Philip IV, which began in 1621, Lerma was despoiled of part of his wealth. The Cardinal was sentenced, on 3 August 1624, to return to the state over a million
ducats. Lerma died in 1625 at Valladolid. ==Marriage and issue==