Antonio Pérez

Antonio Pérez was a Spanish royal secretary. Son of the royal secretary Gonzalo Perez, on his father's death he succeeded to one of the posts of secretary to Philip II of Spain, and became both wealthy and powerful. His downfall was precipitated by his differences with Juan de Escobedo, secretary to Don Juan of Austria, with whose policies Pérez strongly disagreed. In 1578 Escobedo was assassinated in the streets of Madrid, and shortly after Pérez was formally accused of the murder and subjected to house arrest. Implicated with him was Ana de Mendoza, princess of Eboli, widow of Ruy Gómez, prince of Eboli; their close links may have been as conspirators rather than as lovers. The princess began a long confinement in castles. Pérez was interrogated and tortured in 1585; he then accused the king of having ordered him to carry out the murder, but the charge is both unproven and unlikely. In 1590 he escaped to the Aragonese capital, Saragossa. Philip sent in an army to seize him (1591) but Pérez escaped to France and then to England. He spent the rest of his life encouraging France and England to undertake expeditions against Spain. A man of erudition and culture, Pérez wrote extensively; his best-known work is the Relaciones, published in different versions after its first publication in Pau in 1592.