Andalusian independentist conspiracy (1641)

Another possibility is that they wanted to remove the king's favorite Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares from the government, to solve the economic crisis caused by Spain's ambitions in Europe, lower taxes, and hand back a healthier Andalusia to Philip.

According to this theory, the Duke of Medina Sidonia never attacked Portugal, not because of a pact with his brother-in-law, the Portuguese king, but because of the weakness of the Spanish army on the Huelva frontier, a mere 3,000 men.

The duke had run up massive expenses by his high style of living in the years before the death of his father, and had feted Philip IV with great luxury in 1624 when the latter visited the Coto de Doñana.

In the exercise of these functions, he was called upon to fight against the 1637 Portuguese rebellion in the Algarve, led by the Duke of Braganza (later John IV of Portugal), who, in 1632, had contracted a marriage with Luisa de Guzmán, Gaspar Alonso's sister.

For that purpose, the duke traveled to Ayamonte, where he established his headquarters and gave orders to bring together, from various places in Andalusia, an army of ten thousand men.

Continuing to follow this same version of the events, the plotting led to many comings and goings over the Portuguese frontier, and grave rumors about Ayamonte began to circulate.

There was also an incriminatory declaration by Francisco Sánchez Márquez, president of the Accounting Office of Auditors (Spanish: Contaduría Mayor de Cuentas), who said that while in prison in Portugal he had heard a conversation between Fray Nicolás de Velasco (who was posing as a prisoner to gain information) and a mason who again had overheard two servants in the palace of the Duke of Braganza discussing that an armada prepared to conquer Cádiz.

Continuing the conventional view of the conspiracy: while Medina Sidonia an Ayamonte awaited notice from Portugal about the presence of a French-Dutch fleet to collaborate and begin the uprising, he was called to court.

Luis de Haro, eventual successor to the Count-Duke of Olivares as the king's favorite, was sent from the court to Andalusia to find out how far-reaching the ramifications of the plot were, and to arrest Medina Sidonia.

Advised of the arrival of this royal emissary and to avoid the scandal of imprisonment, Medina Sidonia left swiftly for Madrid, where he visited the Count-Duke and confessed his conspiracy, apparently taken in by the attitude of Olivares, who made him believe he would use all his influence to defend his life, his home, and his credit.

After the interview, the Count-Duke showed Medina Sidonia's confession of culpability to the king, from which the chief notary of the kingdom selected written testimony.

He was interrogated again June 8, 1643, in the fortified Castle of Torremocha (Santorcaz), after which he was taken to Pinto southeast of Madrid and finally to the Alcázar of Segovia, which offered greater control and security.

He admitted his guilt as a conspirator, but placed the primary responsibility on the Duke, who he claimed he would not have permitted to proclaim himself king of Andalusia and who he had supported only in the creation of an Andalusian republic.

The Duke of Medina Sidonia could do no more than to send 4,016 reales by way of Luis del Castillo to the Alcázar of Segovia to make sure that his cousin the Marquis did not want for anything material.

Attempting to rehabilitate his image, Medina Sidonia had the bizarre idea of challenging the King of Portugal to single combat, summoning him to meet at the Portuguese border near Valencia de Alcántara within a certain period of time.

His natural son Alonso (or Alfonso) Pérez de Guzmán y Marañón was granted the right to the family name by serving the king at sea, although always far from Andalusia, first as Corregidor of Cuzco in Peru, then as Captain General of the galleys of Sardinia and finally as Viceroy of Valencia.

The focus on external support—from Portugal, France, and the Netherlands—suggests a lack of internal support, despite the apparent malaise of wide swaths of Andalusian society at the time.