BEDMAR, ALONSO DE LA CUEVA, MARQUS DE

born 1572, Granada, Spain died 1655, Oviedo Spanish diplomat who was allegedly responsible for the "conspiracy of Venice" in 1618. Nominated by Philip III of Spain as ambassador to the Venetian Republic (1607), he was made Marqus de Bedmar in 1614. He used his diplomatic privileges to promote the plans of the Spanish viceroys of Naples and Milan and to increase Spanish power in Italy. Resolutely opposed to Bedmar's activities, Venice fabricated an alleged conspiracy to seize the republic as a pretext for expelling him. Philip then sent Bedmar to the Spanish Netherlands, where he served as first minister. In 1622 he was made a Roman Catholic cardinal, resigning the marquessate to his brother Juan. He spent much of his later career in Rome assisting in Spanish diplomatic representation to the Vatican. In the 1620s he was made bishop of Mlaga and of Oviedo.