Palacio De Liria

In 1430 Gutierre Álvarez de Toledo, a man of arms and bishop of Palencia and archbishop of Seville and Toledo, received from the hands of John II the lordship of Alba de Tormes (a town in the province of Salamanca). His nephew Fernán Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Lord of Valdecorneja and one of the most important Castilian warriors of the 15th century, received the title of Count of Alba in 1439. But it wasn't until his son, García Álvarez de Toledo, that the title became a duchy. In 1472, King Henry IV of Castile granted the marquisate of Coria and the duchy of Alba to García Álvarez de Toledo. After the king's death, the Duke of Alba continued his services to the monarchy and participated in the main episodes of the reign of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand of Castile and Aragon, until his death in 1488.

But what was the first Duke of Alba like?

They say about him that he was medium in height, discreet and funny. That he liked Renaissance art from Italy and, most curious of all, that he composed lyrics for songs that were later used by the flamenco Juan de Wrede. It also had a large library. And it was he who acquired the tapestry of the “Struggle of the Greeks and the Amazons”.

In the Palacio de Liria he is represented in a painting of the Master of a Virgo inter Virgines, which was probably made after his death. On the table you can see him kneeling, with long black hair, and a prominent nose and with the Toledo shield over his head.

García Álvarez de Toledo married María Enríquez de Quiñones y Toledo in 1447, with whom he had nine children.

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Who was the first Duke of Alba

But what was the first Duke of Alba like?