ESCOBEDO, JUAN DE

died March 31, 1578 Spanish politician, secretary to Don Juan of Austria. Escobedo began his political life in the household of Ruy Gmez de Silva, prince of Eboli, but, after the Battle of Lepanto, entered the service of the victorious Don Juan and was with him when he became governor of Flanders (1576). In 1577 Escobedo went to Spain, probably with complaints to King Philip II about leakages of information from dispatches to Flanders involving the king's secretary, Antonio Prez. For this reason, it is thought, Prez made several attempts to murder Escobedo and finally, with the king's consent, succeeded in having him killed by bravos on the night of Easter Monday, 1578.