Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño

Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño, ( 1556 – 21 May 1617), known simply as Luis Fajardo, was a Spanish admiral and nobleman who had an outstanding naval career in the Spanish Navy. He is considered one of the most reputable Spanish militaries of the last years of the reign of Philip II and the reign of Philip III. He held important positions in the navy and carried out several military operations in which he had to fight against English, Dutch, French and Barbary forces in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. He is known for the conquest of La Mamora in 1614. Because he belonged to a noble family, he had several appointments such as Adelantado de Murcia, Knight of the Order of Calatrava and Commander of Almuradiel. Personal details Luis Fajardo was born around 1556 in Murcia, twenty-three years after the death of his father's only wife. He was the illegitimate son of Luis Fajardo y de la Cueva, 2nd Marquis of Los Vélez, Grandee of Spain and 1st Marquis de Molina. His mother was Ana Ruiz de Avendaño y Alarcón, a neighbor of Vélez-Blanco and a native of Villapalacios, in La Mancha.