Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba also known as The Great Captain (or Gran Capitán in Spanish), Duke of Terranova and Santangelo, Andria, Montalto and Sessa, or simply Gonzalo de Córdoba, Italian: Gonsalvo or Consalvo Ernandes di Cordova (September 1, 1453 – December 2, 1515) was a Spanish general fighting in the times of the Conquest of Granada and the Italian Wars. He reorganized the emerging Spanish army and its tactics and came to be known as "the Father of Trench Warfare". He was admired by the generation of conquistadors that followed and many influential men fought under him such as the father of Francisco Pizarro.

Early life
He was born at Montilla, in what is now the province of Córdoba, a younger son of Pedro Fernández de Córdoba, Count of Aguilar, and his wife Elvira de Herrera.]

He and his elder brother, Alonso, became orphans while very young boys.

The counts of Aguilar carried on a hereditary feud with the rival house of Cabra, in spite of both family branches coming from the same family tree. As a cadet child within the family, he could not expect much on the way of inherited wealth or titles, having, as nearly always then, to try a church or a military career, the latter being more satisfactory to his wishes.
He was first attached to the household of Don Alfonso, the king's half brother, and upon his death devoted himself to Prince Alfonso's uterine half-sister, Isabel of Castile, who later, mediating a civil war, had proclaimed herself successor queen in 1474, disputing the right of her niece, Juana, to ascend the throne.
During the ensuing civil war between the followers of the daughter of deceased King Henry IV of Castile, Juana la Beltraneja, and the king's half sister Princess Isabella of Castile, there were also conflicts with Portugal as king Afonso V of Portugal sided during the war with his 13 year old niece, Juana. Córdoba fought under the grand master of the Order of Santiago, Alonso de Cárdenas. After the battle of Albuera, the grand master gave him special praise for his behavior.

يتيم في الطفولة المبكرة.