Íñigo Vélez de Guevara, Count consort of Oñate and Count of

Villamediana Villamediana is a municipality located in the province of Palencia, Castile and León, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 229 inhabitants. In Spanish history a prominent role was played by Juan de Ta ...

(1566 in

Salinillas de Buradón Salinillas de Buradón () or Gatzaga Buradon () is a village and '' concejo'' located in the municipality of Labastida, in Álava province, Basque Country, Spain. It was an independent municipality until 1974, when it was absorbed into Labastid ...

, Alava; 31 October 1644 in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

) was a Spanish

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He played an important role in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

Biography

He was the son of Pedro Vélez de Guevara and María de Tassis. He married Catalina Vélez, 5th Countess of Oñate. When her only brother Ladrón was killed in battle on sea against the English in 1588, Catalina became Countess of Oñate. After the death of his cousin

Juan de Tassis y Peralta, 2nd Count of Villamediana Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta, 2nd Count of Villamediana, ( es: ''Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta, segundo conde de Villamediana''; baptised 26 August 1582 – 21 August 1622), was a Spanish poet. In Spain he is simply known as Conde de Villamediana. ...

he also the title of ''Count of Villamediana''. He served as Spain's ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. During the

, the Spanish sent an army from

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

under

Ambrosio Spinola Ambrogio Spinola Doria, 1st Marquess of Los Balbases and 1st Duke of Sesto (1569-25 September 1630) was an Italian ''condottiero'' and nobleman of the Republic of Genoa, who served as a Spanish general and won a number of important battles. He i ...

to support the Emperor, and, as the Spanish ambassador in Vienna, don Íñigo persuaded Protestant

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

to intervene against Bohemia in exchange for control over

Lusatia Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...

. The Saxons invaded, and the Spanish army in the West prevented the Protestant Union's forces from assisting. Oñate conspired to transfer the

Elector of the Palatinate The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kind ...

title from the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

to the

Duke of Bavaria The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and Monarch, kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic States of Germany, state in th ...

in exchange for his support and that of the Catholic League. Under the command of

General Tilly Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly ( nl, Johan t'Serclaes Graaf van Tilly; german: Johann t'Serclaes Graf von Tilly; french: Jean t'Serclaes de Tilly ; February 1559 – 30 April 1632) was a field marshal who commanded the Catholic League's ...

, the Catholic League army (which included

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Mathem ...

in its ranks) pacified

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

, while the Emperor's forces pacified

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

; united, the two moved north into Bohemia. Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the

Battle of White Mountain ), near Prague, Bohemian Confederation(present-day Czech Republic) , coordinates = , territory = , result = Imperial-Spanish victory , status = , combatants_header = , combatant1 = Catholic L ...

, near

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

on 8 November 1620. In addition to making it Catholic, Bohemia would remain in Habsburg hands for three hundred years. In Spain he had ambitions to follow the

Duke of Lerma Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma, 5th Marquess of Denia, 1st Count of Ampudia (1552/1553 – 17 May 1625), was a favourite of Philip III of Spain, the first of the ''validos'' ('most worthy') through whom the later H ...

as ''valido'', but the King's

favourite A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated si ...

and Íñigo's adversary was chosen, the Count-Duke of Olivares. He lost the King's favor and

Luis de Haro Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

became the successor of Olivares.

Children

*Pedro, 6th Count of Oñate, killed in Milan after falling off his horse *Juan, 7th Count of Oñate, priest * Íñigo, 8th Count of Oñate (1597–1658), Viceroy of Naples *Felipe Emmanuel, killed in battle in 1642 near Perpignan * Beltrán,

Viceroy of Sardinia This is a list of viceroys of Sardinia. Aragonese Viceroys From 1418 to 1516 Sardinia was ruled by viceroys from the Crown of Aragon, which merged into the Monarchy of Spain in 1516. 1. Lluís de Pontons (1418-1419) 2. Joan de Corbera (1419-14 ...

*María Ana, married Don Antonio María *Maria Angela, nun *Catalina, nun *Ana Maria, nun

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velez de Guevara, Inigo 07 1566 births 1644 deaths People from Álava Counts of Spain Ambassadors of Spain to the Holy See

Inigo Inigo derives from the Castilian rendering (Íñigo) of the medieval Basque name Eneko. Ultimately, the name means "my little (love)". While mostly seen among the Iberian diaspora, it also gained a limited popularity in the United Kingdom. Ear ...