COUNT OF (1567-1626), Spanish diplomatist, born in Gondomar, Galicia, on Nov. I, 1567. He inherited wide estates in Galicia and in Old Castile from his father, corregidor of Granada and gov ernor of the Canary islands. In 1583 Philip II. gave him military command of the Portuguese frontier and coast of Galicia. Cor regidor of Toro in 1J93, he was sent in 1603 to superintend the distribution of the treasure brought from America by two galleons driven to take refuge at Vigo, and on his return was appointed on the board of finance. In 1609 he repelled a naval attack on Galicia made by the Dutch. In the Casa del Sol at Valladolid, where he resided, he collected a library which the marquis of Malpica, his descendant, ceded to Charles III. ; it is now in the royal library at Madrid.
His reputation as a diplomatist rests on his two periods of service as ambassador in England (1613-18 and 1619-2 2) . The excellence of his latinity pleased the literary tastes of James I., whose character he judged with remarkable insight. He flattered the king's love of books and of peace, and he made skilful use of his desire for an alliance between the prince of Wales and a Spanish infanta. Sarmiento's aim was to keep James from aiding the Protestant States against Spain and the house of Austria, and to avert English attacks on Spanish possessions in America. His success made him odious to the anti-Spanish and Puritan parties. The active part he took in promoting the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh aroused particular animosity. He was attacked in pam phlets and figured as the principal person in Thomas Middleton's A Game of Chess, a political play suppressed by order of the coun cil. Count of Gondomar in 1617, he returned home on leave for his health, through Flanders and France, on a diplomatic mission in 1618. He resumed office in London in 1619; on his retirement in 1622 he was appointed on the royal council and sent on a complimentary mission to Vienna. He died near Haro in the Rioja on Oct. 2, 1626.
See S. R. Gardiner, History of England (London, 1883-84) ; P. de Gayangos, introduction to Cinco Cartas Politico-literarias de Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, Conde de Gondomar . . . (Madrid, 1869, Soc. de Bibliofilos Espanoles) ; R. H. Lyon, Gondomar (Oxford, 191o) .