ESCOVEDO, JUAN DE (d. 1578), Spanish politician, sec retary of Don John of Austria, began life in the household of Ruy Gomez de Silva, prince of Eboli. When Don John of Aus tria, after the battle of Lepanto in 1571, began to launch on a policy of self-seeking adventure, Escovedo was appointed as his secretary with the intention that he should act as a check on these follies. He began to disobey orders from Madrid and be came entangled in intrigues to manage or even to coerce the king. In July 1577, and contrary to the king's orders, he came to Spain from Flanders, where Don John was then governor. The king gave orders to Antonio Perez that he was to be put out of the way. After two clumsy attempts had been made to poison him at Perez's table, he was killed by bravos on the night of Easter Monday, March 31, 1578.
See Gaspar Muro, La Princesse d'Eboli (Paris, 1878) ; and W. H. Prescott, Reign of Philip II. (1855-59).