Don Juan de Tassis y Peralta, 2nd Count of Villamediana,, was a Spanish poet.
Background
Villamediana was born at Lisbon towards the end of 1582. His father, Juan de Tassis y Acuña, 1st Count of Villamediana, upon whom the title of count was conferred by King Philip III of Spain in 1603, was a diplomat heading the Spanish legation who signed the Treaty of London, May 1604.
Career
In Spain he is simply known as Conde de Villamediana. On Villmediana"s return to Spain, he was soon noted as a satirist. Prominent men such as the Duke of Lerma, Rodrigo Calderón, Count of Oliva and Jorge de Tobar were frequent targets.
Villamediana was once more ordered to withdraw from court in 1618.
He returned on the death of Philip III and was appointed gentleman-in-waiting to Philip IV"s young wife, Elisabeth of France, daughter of Henri IV. A fire broke out while Villamediana"s masque, Louisiana gloria de Niquea, was being acted before the court on the May 14, 1622, and he carried the queen to a place of safety. Suspicion deepened; Peralta neglected a significant warning that his life was in peril, and "he was murdered as he stepped out of his coach.
The responsibility for his death was divided between Philip IV and Olivares" (the King"s chief minister and favourite). A subsequent forensic investigation found that he had been a "proven sodomite", and is likely to have frequented the homosexual as well as heterosexual brothels run by individuals close to the court.
He was also the subject of homophobic innuendo in a satirical poem by Quevedo
Villamediana"s works, first published at Saragossa in 1629, contain both his satirical and more serious verses.