Juan José de Austria

Juan José de Austria (1629-1679) was the illegitimate son of King Philip IV of Spain. His mother, María Calderón called La Calderona, was a famous actress of the time. Officially recognized by his father in 1642, he undertook an intensive military and political careeer. His first assignment was to lead the fleet prepared to repress the revolt of Naples (1647-1648). He was later viceroy of Sicily until 1651 and the following year put an end to the Catalan revolt regaining Barcelona after a long siege. In the following years he was governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and tried in vain to regain Portugal in the sixties of the seventeenth century. After the death of Philip IV, the contrast between Don Juan and the widowed Queen Mariana of Austria, the mother of the only legitimate son of the sovereign who remained alive, grew more and more acute. Don Juan was able to undermine the power of the Queen’s favourite, the Jesuit Nithard, and his successor, Fernando de Valenzuela. He became prime minister in 1677 and died two years later, not having obtained important results and leaving Spain in the hands of the weak brother, Charles II.

Read more:

• I. Ruiz Rodríguez, Don Juan José de Austria en la Monarquía Hispánica. Entre la política, el poder y la intriga, Madrid 2007.