Antonio Pérez (statesman)

Antonio Pérez del Hierro (1540–Paris, 7 April 1611) was a Spanish statesman and secretary of king Philip II of Spain.

He was said to have organised the murder of Juan de Escobedo. Attempts to prosecute Perez led to riots and disorder. He eventually fled Spain after being liberated from prison by his supporters, and spent most of his remaining years in France.

Biography

Early years

His birthplace is disputed. In 1542 he was the natural son of Gonzalo Pérez, Secretary of the Council of State of king Charles I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V)., who legitimised him and had him registered as aragonese born. Even though he was born in Madrid his attachment was to Aragon where his father was from and where his family was most influential. His followers and supporters were all from Aragon and later in life, he would flee to Aragon to find support for himself and protection from the king's persecution.

Antonio Pérez was raised in Val de Concha, Guadalajara, in the lands of Ruy Gomez de Silva, Prince of Eboli and leader of one of the political factions of the time, of which Gonzalo Pérez was part. The other faction was that of the Duke of Alba. Antonio later attended the most prestigious universities such as Alcalá de Henares, Salamanca, Leuven, Venice and Padua. His father introduced and trained him in matters of State.

Secretary

In 1543, Gonzalo Pérez was appointed secretary of Prince (later king) Philip. In 1556, Charles abdicated his Spanish kingdoms to his son who became king Philip of the several Spanish kingdoms (Castile, Aragon, etc.) and Gonzalo Pérez continued as secretary of the new king. Gonzalo Pérez died in 1566 and his son Antonio was made Secretary of State of Castile a year later.

During his first ten years as secretary, Antonio Pérez had great influence over king Philip who valued his advice. With the death of the Prince of Eboli in 1573, Antonio Pérez became the leader of that faction in accord with the widow, Ana de Mendoza, the one-eyed Princess of Éboli.

In 1567, Antonio Pérez married Juana Coello with whom he had several sons.

Murder of Escobedo

Antonio Pérez is most remembered for his role in the murder of Juan de Escobedo, secretary of Don Juan of Austria.

King Philip was suspicious of the designs of his half-brother Don Juan of Austria and Antonio Pérez exploited this suspicion to his own benefit. By the advice of Antonio Pérez, in 1575, the king imposed Juan de Escobedo, whom Antonio Pérez considered trustworthy, as secretary of Don Juan of Austria. The design was that Escobedo would spy for Antonio Pérez but it turned out that, unexpectedly, Escobedo became faithful to Don Juan.

Antonio Pérez then began to make king Philip suspicious of Escobedo. Pérez, as secretary for the affairs of the Low Countries, was in a position to intercept and turn to his own advantage many innocent documents. He doctored reports and wrote derisive comments on the margins of letters destined for the king. He repeatedly insinuated to the king that Don Juan was plotting against him and Escobedo (code-named Verdinegro - "green-black") was encouraging him in his plotting. He convinced the king that Escobedo must be killed without judicial process for "reasons of State". The king gave his assent but had no other participation in the murder.

In early 1577, Don Juan was in the low Countries and Escobedo, his secretary, was visiting Madrid having been sent there by Don Juan. After three clumsy attempts to poison Escobedo failed, Pérez recruited swordsmen to assassinate him. Pérez removed himself from Madrid and, on the night of March 31, 1578, in a narrow alley, the assassins stabbed Escobedo to death. Insausti was the name of the killer and was helped by a group of loyals of Antonio Pérez, people from Aragon, where Antonio Pérez was from and where he was most powerful and influential. Immediately rumours were flying that Antonio Pérez was behind the killing.

A few months later, on October 1, Don Juan died of Typhus in the Low Countries. (His body was cut into three parts and secretly passed through France to Spain where it was reassembled and given a proper burial.)

Pérez was recalled to France by Henry of Navarre, now Henry IV. He remained there until the end of his days except for several travels to England.

Pérez's Relaciones along with the Apologia written by William of Orange in 1580, are largely responsible for the Black Legend that has grown around Philip II.

King Philip died in 1598. Antonio Pérez's wife and children, who were still imprisoned in Madrid, were set free.

In 1611, Antonio Pérez died in Paris and was interred in a convent, but his remains were lost during the desecrations of the French Revolution.

Bibliography

Imperial Spain 1469-1716 by JH Elliot
Don Juan of Austria by Amarie Dennis, Madrid, 1966
Gregorio Marañón in 1947 published a biography of Antonio Pérez and separately the same year, the documentary work Los procesos de Castilla contra Antonio Pérez (The Judicial Processes of Castile Against Antonio Pérez). Both are in Spanish and were republished in a single volume in 1970 as volume VI of the complete works of Gregorio Marañón. These are, probably, the most complete works documenting the life of Antonio Pérez.
Green, Dominic The Double Life of Doctor Lopez London 2004- is informative on Perez's later life and the various plots to assassinate him.
Sabatini, Rafael The Historical Nights Entertainment First Series One chapter of this book presents a fictional version of the murder of Escobedo, based primarily on Perez's writings.