During 1569-1571 he served under the command of John of Austria in the war against the moriscos in Granada, fighting also in the Battles of Lepanto and Navarino against the Ottoman Turks and operating in North Africa besieging places now located in Morocco and Algeria.
He had been involved previously in the military operations against the Portuguese Nobility in the 1580 succession crisis whereby king Philip II of Spain claimed his right to the Portuguese throne as his mother was a Portuguese Princess, becoming thus king Philip I of Portugal.