of the Northern Provinces. Never was there a better opportunity than the end of 1586 for an invading army to march through the country almost without opposition. The misgovernment and lack of high statesmanship of the earl of Leicester had caused faction to be rampant in the United Provinces; and on his return to England he left the country without organized forces or experienced generals to oppose an advance of a veteran army under the greatest commander of his time. But Philip’s whole thoughts and energies were already directed to the preparation of an Invincible Armada for the conquest of England, and Parma was ordered to collect an enormous flotilla of transports and to keep his army concentrated and trained for the projected invasion of the island realm of Queen Elizabeth. Thus the critical period passed by unused, and when the tempests had finally dispersed the defeated remnants of the Great Armada the Dutch had found a general, in the youthful Maurice of Nassau, worthy to be the rival in military genius even of Alexander of Parma. Moreover, the accession to the throne of France of Henry of Navarre had altogether altered the situation of affairs, and relieved the pressure upon the Dutch by creating a diversion, and placing Parma and his army between hostile forces. The ruinous expenditure upon the Great Armada had also depleted the Spanish treasury and Philip found himself virtually bankrupt. In 1590 the condition of the Spanish troops had become intolerable. Farnese could get no regular supplies of money from the king for the payment of the soldiery, and he had to pledge his own jewels to meet the demand. A mutiny broke out, but was suppressed. In the midst of these difficulties Parma received orders to abandon the task on which he had spent himself for so many years, and to raise the siege of Paris, which was blockaded by Henry IV. He left the Netherlands on the 3rd of August 1590 at the head of 15,000 troops. By brilliant generalship he outwitted Henry and succeeded in relieving Paris; but owing to lack of money and supplies he was compelled immediately to retreat to the Netherlands, abandoning on the march many stragglers and wounded, who were killed by the peasantry, and leaving all the positions he had taken to be recaptured by Henry.
Again in 1591, in the very midst of a campaign against Maurice of Nassau, sorely against his will, the duke of Parma was obliged to give up the engrossing struggle and march to relieve Rouen. He was again successful in his object, but was wounded in the arm before Caudebec, and was finally compelled to withdraw his army with considerable losses through the privations the troops had to undergo. He himself was shattered in health by so many years of continuous campaigning and exposure, and by the cares and disappointments which had befallen him. He died at Arras on the 3rd of December 1592, in the forty-seventh year of his age. The feeling that his immense services had not won for him either the gratitude or confidence of his sovereign hastened his end. He was honoured by a splendid funeral at Brussels, but his body was interred at his own capital city of Parma. He left two sons, Ranuce, who succeeded him, and Edward, who was created a cardinal in 1591 by Pope Gregory XIV. His daughter Margaret married Vincent, duke of Mantua.
See L. P. Gachard, Correspondance d’Alexandre Farnese, Prince de Parme, gouverneur général des Pays-Bas, avec Philippe II, 1578–1579 (Brussels, 1850); Fra Pietro, Alessandro Farnese, duca di Parma (Rome, 1836).
FARNESE, ELIZABETH (1692–1766), queen of Spain, born
on the 25th of October 1692, was the only daughter of Odoardo
II., prince of Parma. Her mother educated her in strict seclusion,
but seclusion altogether failed to tame her imperious and ambitious
temper. At the age of twenty-one (1714) she was married
by proxy at Parma to Philip V. of Spain. The marriage was
arranged by Cardinal Alberoni (q.v.), with the concurrence of
the Princess des Ursins, the Camerara Mayor. On arriving at
the borders of Spain, Elizabeth was met by the Princess des
Ursins, but received her sternly, and, perhaps in accordance
with a plan previously concerted with the king, at once ordered
her to be removed from her presence and from Spain. Over the
weak king Elizabeth quickly obtained complete influence. This
influence was exerted altogether in support of the policy of
Alberoni, one chief aim of which was to recover the ancient
Italian possessions of Spain, and which actually resulted in the
seizure of Sardinia and Sicily. So vigorously did she enter into
this policy that, when the French forces advanced to the Pyrenees,
she placed herself at the head of one division of the Spanish army.
But Elizabeth’s ambition was grievously disappointed. The
Triple Alliance thwarted her plans, and at length in 1720 the
allies made the banishment of Alberoni a condition of peace.
Sicily also had to be evacuated. And finally, all her entreaties
failed to prevent the abdication of Philip, who in 1724 gave up
the throne to his heir, and retired to the palace of La Granja.
Seven months later, however, the death of the young king recalled
him to the throne. During his later years, when he was nearly
imbecile, she directed the whole policy of Spain so as to secure
thrones in Italy for her sons. In 1736 she had the satisfaction
of seeing her favourite scheme realized in the accession of her
son Don Carlos (afterwards Charles III. of Spain) to the throne
of the Two Sicilies and his recognition by the powers in the treaty
of Vienna. Her second son, Philip, became duke of Parma.
Elizabeth survived her husband twenty years, dying in 1766.
See Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire d’Espagne sous le règne de Philippe V, by the Marquis de St Philippe, translated by Maudave (Paris, 1756); Memoirs of Elizabeth Farnese (London, 1746); and E. Armstrong, Elizabeth Farnese, the Termagant of Spain (1892).
FARNHAM, a market town in the Guildford parliamentary
division of Surrey, England, 3712 m. S.W. by W. from London
by the London & South Western railway. Pop. of urban
district (1901) 6124. It lies on the left bank of the river Wey,
on the southern slope of a hill rising about 700 ft. above the
sea-level. The church of St Andrew is a spacious transitional
Norman and Early English building, with later additions, and
was formerly a chapel of ease to Waverley Abbey, of which a
crypt and fragmentary remains, of Early English date, stand in
the park attached to a modern residence of the same name.
This was the earliest Cistercian house in England, founded in
1128 by William Gifford, bishop of Winchester. The Annales
Waverlienses, published by Gale in his Scriptores and afterwards
in the Record series of Chronicles, are believed to have suggested
to Sir Walter Scott the name of his first novel. Farnham Castle,
on a hill north of the town, the seat of the bishops of Winchester,
was first built by Henry de Blois, bishop of Winchester, and
brother of King Stephen; but it was razed by Henry III. It
was rebuilt and garrisoned for Charles I. by Denham, from
whom it was taken in 1642 by Sir W. Waller; and having been
dismantled, it was restored by George Morley, bishop of Winchester
(1662–1684). Farnham has a town hall and exchange
in Italian style (1866), a grammar school of early foundation,
and a school of science and art. It was formerly noted for its
cloth manufacture. Hops of fine quality are grown in the
vicinity. William Cobbett was born in the parish (1766), and is
buried in the churchyard of St Andrew’s. The neighbouring
mansion of Moor Park was the residence of Sir William Temple
(d. 1699), and Swift worked here as his secretary. Hester
Johnson, Swift’s “Stella,” was the daughter of Temple’s steward,
whose cottage still stands. The town has grown in favour as
a residential centre from the proximity of Aldershot Camp
(3 m. N.E.).
Though there is evidence of an early settlement in the neighbourhood, the town of Farnham (Ferneham) seems to have grown up round the castle of the bishops of Winchester, who possessed the manor at the Domesday Survey. Its position at the junction of the Pilgrim’s Way and the road from Southampton to London was important. In 1205 Farnham had bailiffs, and in 1207 it was definitely a mesne borough under the bishops of Winchester. In 1247 the bishop granted the first charter, giving, among other privileges, a fair on All Saints’ Day. The burgesses surrendered the proceeds of the borough court and other rights in 1365 in return for respite of the fee farm rent; these were recovered in 1405 and rent again paid. Bishop Waynflete is said to have confirmed the original charter in 1452, and in 1566 Bishop Horne
