Antonio Guarás

Antonio Guarás (* 1520 in Tarazona ; † 1579 ibid) was from 1571 to 1578 the ambassador of Philip II of Spain to Elizabeth I of England .

Life

Guarás was a Spanish merchant and banker based in London.

On September 1, 1553, he wrote Relacion muy verdadera de Antonio d'Guaras: criado de la Serenissima y Catholica reyna de Inglaterra to Beltrán II. De la Cueva y Toledo (1477-1560), Duke of Alburquerque Vissorey y Capitan General d'l Reyno de Navarre. He reported on the inauguration of Mary I of England and the execution of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland . The story in letter form was printed on March 23, 1554 in Medina del Campo. The English authorities later took the work as an opportunity to accuse him of indiscretion . A confiscated copy was in the British Museum , where Richard Garnett found it and published it as a facsimile with comments. In this work he showed a familiarity with English society that, according to Garnett, he had already spent some years in England in 1544.

Another work from the evidence in the British Museum was A Letter from Antonio de Guaras to the Irish Rebels , which Garnett also commented on in the English Historical Review 1893 VIII: 91-92 published. His addressee was Thomas Stukley .

From 1557 to 1565 he had the Palacio de Eguarás built in Ciudad de Tarazona .

As Guerau de Spes due to the Ridolfi Plot was from England expelled Guarás was chargé d'affaires . His interlocutor was the then British Foreign Minister William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley .

His secretary was Juan de Aguirre.

The diplomatic mail of the Portuguese ambassador Antonio Fogaza went through Antonio de Guarás, who denounced him out of jealousy to the Portuguese authorities. Antonio de Guarás evaluated his business information . For example, he became aware that Francis Drake was hiring sailors for a trip to Alexandria . Guarás concluded that Drake was putting together a team for a mission to Nombre de Dios . It was not likely, but possible, that he was looking for a Northwest Passage.

As a show of force against the Catholic party, Antonio Guarás was arrested on October 19, 1577 at midnight and his house was searched. His first place of detention was the home of the Sheriffs of London , later he was taken to the Tower , where his health and financial fortune were ruined under calculated mockery over the next 18 months. He was then expelled from England. He left England on May 24, 1579.

See also

• Marquesado de Eguaras

Individual evidence

1. ^ Richard Garnett , The Accession of Queen Mary , p. 25
2. ↑ Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza, Eguarás, el renacer de un palacio (PDF; 263 kB)
3. ^ Garrett Mattingly, Renaissance diplomacy p. 175
4. ↑ Martin Andrew Sharp Hume (1847–1910), Calendar of letters and state papers relating to English affairs ARCHIVES OF SIMANCAS Vol. II. ELIZABETH , p. 47
5. ↑ Allen Johnson, De Guaras, chief Spanish spy in England, Elizabethan Sea Dogs 1560-1605
6. ↑ Hume p. 51

predecessor	Office	successor
Guerau de Spes	Spanish envoy to England 1571-1578	Bernardino de Mendoza