Juan de Jáuregui (1562 – March 18, 1582) was killed trying to

assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

ate Prince

William I of Orange William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War (156 ...

. He was a

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

an by his birth in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. In 1582, he was in the service of a Spanish fur merchant, Gaspar de Añastro from

Vitoria Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória ( ...

, who resided at

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. De Añastro had lost three ships and was tempted by the supposed reward of 80,000

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s and the habit of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...

offered by

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

for the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of William the Silent, prince of Orange, and being himself without courage to undertake the task, De Añastro (with the help of his cashier Antonio de Venero, a 19-year-old also from Bilbao, and the Dominican friar Antonio Timmerman, from

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

) persuaded his poor accounting assistant Jáuregui to attempt the murder for the sum of 2877 crowns. Jáuregui had been convinced not only that heaven would smile on his attempt, but that he would become invisible immediately afterwards, and thus escape easily. On Sunday, March 18, 1582, as the prince came out of his dining-room, Jáuregui offered him a petition, and William had no sooner taken it into his hand than Jáuregui fired a pistol at his head. Although the pistol was badly designed and malfunctioned, one bullet pierced the neck below the right ear and passed out at the left jaw-bone, but William ultimately recovered. Jáuregui was pierced on the spot by the sword of a knight in the retinue and finally killed by the

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge), is a two-handed polearm that was in prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It may have a hook or ...

iers. Upon a search on the corpse, he was found to carry two pieces of castor fur, several crosses and amulets, a green wax candle (typical accoutrements of wizardry), and several papers written in Spanish. When William recovered, he asked a merciful execution for the survivors: Venero and Timmerman were

garotte A garrote ( ; alternatively spelled as garotte and similar variants)''Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spel ...

d on March 28, then decapitated and quartered for public exhibition. De Añastro had left for

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

on March 13. He claimed the reward before Alessandro Farnese. In this case, the reward was the 25,000

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s, nobility title and pardon actually promised by Philip II in June 1580. Although William suffered severe injuries, he survived thanks to the care of his wife

Charlotte of Bourbon Charlotte of Bourbon (1546/1547 – 5 May 1582) was a princess consort of Orange as the third spouse of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish. She was the fourth daughter of Louis III de Bo ...

and his sister Mary. While William slowly recovered, Charlotte died on May 5. William was finally shot dead by the French Catholic

Balthasar Gérard Balthasar Gérard (alternative spellings Gerards or Gerardts; c. 1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassination, assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange-Nassau, House of Orange (William the Silent, and lat ...

on 10 July 1584. The case was published in French, Flemish and Spanish by

Christopher Plantin Christophe Plantin (; – 1 July 1589) was a French Renaissance humanist and book printer and publisher who resided and worked in Antwerp. He established in Antwerp one of the most prominent publishing houses of his time, the Plantin Press. I ...

as ''Bref recueil de l'assassinat, commis en la personne du Très Illustre Prince, Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange, Conte de Nassau, Marquis de la Vere, etc par Iean Iauregui Espaignol'', Antwerp, 1582. Among the published writings, there was a religious

vouch A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a ...

promising donations to

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Our Lady of Begoña Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" Places * Our (river) The Our (; , ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. It is a left-hand tributary of the river Sauer, Sauer/Sûre. Its total length is . The source of the O ...

, Our Lady of Arantzazu,

Our Lady of Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe (), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with four Marian apparitions to Juan Diego and one to his uncle, Juan Bernardino reported in December 1531, when t ...

Hondarribia Hondarribia (; ; ) is a Spanish town situated on the west shore of the Bidasoa river's estuary, in Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community. The border town is situated on a little promontory facing Hend ...

, and the Christ of Burgos. There also was a letter appealing to the goodwill of the Antwerpers.

Notes

References

* * ''Sacra Némesis, Nuevas historias de nacionalistas vascos'', Jon Juaristi, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid, 1999, pages 63–70, . Juaristi links Jáuregui's attack with

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

violence and the relationships of Catholicism with

Basque nationalism Basque nationalism ( ; ; ) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the political unity of the Basques, today scattered between Spain and France. Since ...

Notes

References

Further reading