Issue date: 28 Jan, 2016
COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS
The 5th centenary of the death of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba is being commemorated. This captain served the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and was a member of Andalusian nobility. Always loyal to the cause of Isabella the Catholic, he fought with her in the War of the Castilian Succession. However, it was during the Conquest of Granada that he shone as a soldier in the assault, demonstrating great leadership qualities and enormous practical ingenuity. He was responsible for negotiating with the last Nazari king, Boabdil, and as recompense for his services to the Crown, he was decorated by the Order of Santiago, among many other distinctions.
In 1495, he landed in Calabria as leader of an army to confront the French troops that had occupied the Kingdom of Naples. Following various successful battles that culminated in the expulsion of the French, he returned to Spain where his victories earned him the title of Grand Captain. New hostilities arose in 1500 under the Treaty of Chambord-Granada that split the Kingdom of Naples between the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and Luis XII of France, taking Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba to fight against the French, for whose defeat he received the title of Viceroy of Naples.
All these achievements made him the indisputable leader of the army, which he restructured, revolutionising military technique. He grouped his army into colonelships, giving rise to the legendary Tercio regiments. He rewrote battle tactics and detracted importance from weapons in favour of infantry.
He died on 2 December 1515 and his remains were buried at the Monastery of St. Jerome in Granada.
The stamp commemorates the 5th centenary of his death by depicting a reproduction of the Grand Captain’s profile together with an image of two servicemen from the Spanish Army dressed in arid combat camouflage that is used in battlefield operations. The Spanish Army and more specifically the Spanish Legion, which contains a Tercio regiment called “Grand Captain”, has close links to this historic figure.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.