Martín Alonso Fernández de Córdoba Montemayor y Velasco, conde de Alcaudete

Martín Alonso Fernández de Córdoba Montemayor y Velasco (died 1558) was a Spanish nobleman and first Count of Alcaudete.

He was Viceroy of Navarra between 1527 and 1534.
In 1534, he was appointed Governor ("Captain General") of the Spanish North African base of Oran in 1534.[1]

In 1535, he attacked the Ottoman-held city of Tlemcen, capital of the Kingdom of Tlemcen, with 600 men, in collaboration with the local Banu Amir tribe of Abdul Rahman ibn Radwan. The project was to replace Sultan Muhammad by Ibn Radwan's younger brother Abdulla. They were opposed by the Banu Rashid tribes under Sultan Muhammad, and the Spanish forces were besieged at the Tibda fortress and exterminated, except for 70 prisoners.[1]

He also led several Spanish expeditions against Mostaganem, which took place in 1543 and 1547. They failed as the Spanish forces were repulsed and then pursued in retreat by Turkish and tribal forces.[2]

Count Alcaudete led the disastrous Expedition of Mostaganem in 1558, where he was killed.[1]

Count Alcaudete had a son, named Don Martín de Córdoba, himself future Governor of Oran, who was also captured in the disaster of Mostaganem and would be imprisoned as a Christian slave in Algiers under the beylerbey Hasan Pasha, until he was exchanged for the huge ransom of 23,000 escudos.[3]

Notes
  1. A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period by Jamil M. Abun-Nasr p.153ff
  2. A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period Jamil M. Abun-Nasr p.155
  3. Cervantes in Algiers: a captive's tale by María Antonia Garcés p. 49ff


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