Francisco Javier Castaños, 1st Duke of Bailén


Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri Urioste y Olavide, 1st Duke of Bailén was a Spanish general and politician who excelled during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. From July to September 1834, he served as the first president of the Senate of Spain, at that time called House of Peers.
Castaños was one of the most important military officers during the Peninsular War, reaching the position of Chair of the Regency Council of Spain and the Indies in 1810. In 1833, Queen Regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, in the name of her daughter, Queen Isabella II, granted him with the title of Duke of Bailén, to honour his actions in the Peninsular War and, specially, in the Battle of Bailén, where the Napoleonic army was defeated at open field for the first time, which also caused the flight of Spain from King Joseph Bonaparte.

Biography

Castaños was born at Madrid.
Castaños is remembered for his victory over the French under Dupont, whom he surrounded and compelled to surrender at the decisive Battle of Bailen in 1808, being on that moment in command of the "Army of the South", the biggest Spanish military unit during the Napoleonic War. Though just months later lead his army to a decisive defeat at the Battle of Tudela. After this he served under Wellington in several engagements, and was commander of the Spanish army, if required, to invade France in 1815.
Castaños died at Madrid in 1852.