isabelmelendez(2ºE)

toc By: Isabel Meléndez from the group Freewomen (2ºE) This is my Voki:

media type="custom" key="25244068"

__**Count - Duke of Olivares**__

//Biography:// Count - Duke of Olivares (Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel) was born the 6th January 1587 in Rome (Italy), and he died the 22nd July 1645 in Toro (Spain). He was a noble and a Spanish politician. He was the prime minister since 1623 until 1643 and court favourite (valido) of Philip IV of Spain. His father, Enrique de Guzmán, was the ambassor of Spain in Rome so this is why he was born there, and his mother was Mary Pimentel of Fuenseca. In 1615 Olivares became one of Prince Philip's six personal attendants. When Philip was crowned king in April of 1621, he had just reached 16 years of age, and Olivares was approaching the age of 34. By this time Olivares, a man of unpleasing appearance and changing moods, had become the young king's irreplaceable companion. As Philip's favourite he was given the rank of grandee, the title most coveted by Castilian nobility. Reluctant to drop any part of his title, he styled himself "conde-duque" (count-duke). From 1623 until 1643, Olivares served as prime minister of Spain. He was unswervingly loyal to the King and was vehemently patriotic. He was also avid for power. When he was prime minister of Spain his main objective of his domestic policy was to engender national unity among the separate kingdoms of the peninsula (kingdoms that he described as "anachronistic as crossbows"). He attempted many economic reforms aimed at relieving the difficult situation that had arisen as a result of long reliance on the influx of precious metals from the New World. Among these programs were restrictions on granting favours (except for honorary titles); recoining of the old copper alloy moneys; introduction of paper money; promotion, with the aid of the Castilian Cortes (representative assembly), of various royal decrees to stop the industrial and commercial decline of the kingdom; and a project whereby the shipping companies would be able to compete more advantageously with the Dutch, English, and French commercial fleets. But his attempts to promote trade and industry met with failure, due largely to the fact that aristocratic Castilians, slaves to the idea of a rigid class structure, looked down upon all mercantile professions. In foreign policy Olivares was guided by the dream of austracismo, a joint European hegemony of the Austrian and Spanish Habsburg kingdoms. This policy meant continued Spanish involvement in the Thirty Years' War and ended with the eclipse of Spanish power by France. Yet in the period of the Counter-Reformation, it is difficult to conceive of Spain following a different course: in this sense it was almost inevitable, and Olivares can hardly be judged in terms of its ultimate failure. Eventually Olivares was exiled, along with his wife, to the city of Toro. In December 1644 the Inquisition began to investigate his conduct. He died in Toro the following year.

Here is my //voki// about him too:

media type="custom" key="25889970" height="20"

Now, I have done a //newspaper article// about him.



This is a //Dipity Timeline// about him:

media type="custom" key="26028042"

And finally I had made a //Prezi Presentation//:

media type="custom" key="26028300"