defusing the mutinies which erupted in Brabant among the armies of the Archduke, even financing the arrangements with the mutineers with his own money, raised in Flanders with the guarantee of his Spanish properties. Besides, he took part in several important battles, being seriously wounded twice. Another of Leti's legends says that in 1604 he went to London, as a member of the embassy sent by king Philip III of Spain to king James I Stuart to sign the Treaty of Peace, the ambassador being the Constable of Castile, the later assessment being indeed true. In 1608, when the negotiations for the 12 years truce between Maurice of Nassau and Ambrogio Spinola within the Eighty Years War had already begun in The Hague, he took no part as he was against them. He returned to Spain as a hero, being decorated in 1608 with the Order of the Golden Fleece, the highest decoration given by the King of Spain as head of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1608 he arranged the marriage of his son, Juan, with the daughter of Cristóbal de Sandoval, Duke of Uceda, the son and assistant of Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, the Prime Minister and Valido of king Philip III of Spain. The political meaning of such an agreement was indeed that he was accepted as a member of the Lerma's family and group of friends, the real ruling elite of the Spanish monarchy at the time, till he was displaced around 1621 by his political enemy, Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares. In Italy As viceroy of Sicily On 18 September 1610 he was named viceroy of Sicily, and took possession of his post at Milazzo on 9 March 1611. During his Sicilian viceroyalty he organized a squadron of galleys for the Royal Navy but also his own corsair fleet. He launched several successful expeditions against Berber pirates and harbours, as well as against the Turks. In 1613 Ottavio d'Aragona the Younger was victorious in the Battle of Cape Corvo. In 1616, the commander of the royal Sicilian fleet, Francisco de Rivera y Medina, achieved another important victory against Turkish galleys in the Battle of Cape Celidonia. Overall, Osuna set up a sizable naval force in Sicily and reinforced the military might of the island. As viceroy of Naples In 1616 he was promoted to viceroy of Naples, and held the