The Italian nobleman who helped the English defeat the Invincible Armada

In the summer of 1588, during the Battle of Gravelines, the famous Spanish Invincible Armada was shattered by the push of the English fleet led by Francis Drake. The historical event, which led to a phrase as well-known as it is apocryphal, attributed to the King of Spain Philip II, was that a storm, during the retreat towards the Peninsula, finished off the Spanish ships: "I sent my ships to fight against men, not against the elements." Sir Horatio Palavicino, Italian by birth, but already a banker to the Queen of England, was contemplating the Spanish defeat from a distance, rubbing his hands with glee (it has often been said that he himself captained a ship of the English fleet, but it has never been officially confirmed that this is true).

The exact date of Palavicino's birth is not known, but the details of his family are well known, because this financier, businessman, speculator, and spy was born into one of the most powerful houses in what is now Italy. In the 15th century, they were already part of the Genoese commercial elite and throughout that century they were the owners of the so-called Stato Pallavicino, an autonomous feudal entity that existed until 1585.

Palavicino's debut in the world of finance – at least, what has remained for history, because nothing is known about him before this date – was in 1578, when he signed an agreement with the Flemish – at war with the Spanish – to sell them a large stock of sulphates (alum) for dyes under very advantageous conditions. The operation was carried out in exchange for ensuring the monopoly of the mines of this product.

In fact, the reason Palavicino was settled in Antwerp was to represent the family in the trade of this commodity, which he managed as a monopoly and which was his main source of wealth. The agreement with the Dutch with deferred payment proved to be the gateway for our protagonist to the circles of English royalty, because it was Queen Elizabeth I herself who took charge of the future payments of the Flemish, as she wanted to keep the flame of the revolt against Philip II alive.

The arrival of Palavicino in London to act as court financier would be a paradigmatic case of a man who finds himself in the right place at the right time, because in 1579 Thomas Gresham, who until then was the great artist of the monarchy's debt placements, had died. His disappearance had left a void that no one had filled until Palavicino's arrival.Between 1580 and 1592, twelve key years, he played an even more important role in English foreign policy than Gresham himself had. From that moment on, Palavicino was one of the main financiers of the war in Flanders and risked his own fortune, which caused him many headaches due to the continuous non-payments by the Dutch.Appointment as ambassador

In 1586, he began his work as England's ambassador. The appointment could be considered surprising, as he was a foreigner from a clearly Catholic family – he had aligned himself with the Anglicans very shortly before – and because, as a good speculator, his integrity was not at all clear. But, as we said before, Gresham's disappearance in 1579 left a void that was very difficult to fill. In those times, managing a country's foreign policy involved designing debt emissions, having good contacts in the City of London, and possessing geopolitical knowledge, so finding someone who combined all of this was not easy. For this reason, Palavicino was chosen.Relations with the English government were not only official and visible, but from the first day he also carried out intelligence tasks under the orders of the Secretary of State of the time, first Francis Walsingham and then Robert Cecil. The network of spies and double agents he built for England was fundamental throughout the war in the Netherlands and also in the evolution of peace talks.Certain espionage practices applied when he was speculating with alum served him as training. Later, his network of businesses in the main European capitals proved very useful for gathering information from all over. At the time of his death, in July 1600, he was still fully engaged in arranging geopolitical matters. His son Toby was responsible for squandering the fortune.