ARANDA, PEDRO PABLO ABARCA DE BOLEA, COUNT OF Spanish minister and general, was born at the castle of Sietamo, a lordship of his family near Huesca, in Aragon, Aug. i 1719. The first half of his life was spent alter nately in travel, in soldiering and in diplomacy. He introduced the Prussian system of drill into the Spanish army, and was di rector-general of artillery under Ferdinand VI. He threw up that post because he was not allowed to punish fraudulent army contractors, and was for some time in disgrace. But he came into favour again under Charles III., and when riots in Madrid (1 766) compelled the king to leave the capital, Aranda was sum moned to restore order. As president of the council of Castile he showed himself an inflexible administrator, and carried out many important reforms.
The chief event of his ministry, which lasted until 1773, was the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Spain. During his travels Aranda had come under the influence of Voltaire, and he probably persuaded the king that the Jesuits were plotting against him. In 1767 the Order was expelled, its members being transferred to Italy. They suffered great hardships, and their brethren in South America, who were also expelled, suffered even more. Aranda's ability, his remarkable capacity for work, and his popularity made him indispensable to the king. But he was a trying servant, for his temper was captious and his tongue sarcastic, while his aristocratic arrogance led him to display an offensive contempt for the golillas (the stiff collars), as he called the lawyers and public servants whom the king preferred to choose as ministers, and he permitted himself an amazing free dom of language with his sovereign. He was held responsible for the diplomatic humiliation of Spain over the Falkland Islands, and at last, in 1773, Charles III. sent him as ambassador to Paris in a disguised disgrace. Aranda held this position till 1787.
In the reign of Charles TV., with whom he had been on familiar terms during the life of the old king, he was for a very short time prime minister in 1792. In reality he was merely used as a screen by the queen, Maria Louisa and her favourite, Godoy. His temper, which had become perfectly uncontrollable with age, made him insufferable to the king. He was imprisoned f or a short time at Granada, and was threatened with a trial by the Inquisition. The proceedings did not go beyond the preliminary stage, and Aranda died at Epila, Jan. g 1798.
See Don Jacobo de la Pezuela in the Revista de Espana, vol. xxv. ( 187,2) ; Don Antonio Ma Fabie, in the Diccionario general de politica admini st racion of Don E. Suarez Inclan (Madrid, 1868) , vol. i.; M. Morel Fatio, Etudes sur l'Espagne (2nd series, Paris, 189o).