VALDES, JUAN DE (c. 5oo-1541), Spanish religious writer, younger of twin sons of Fernando de Valdes, hereditary regidor of Cuenca in Castile, was born about 150o at Cuenca. He has been confused with his twin-brother Alphonso (in the suite of Charles V. at his coronation in Aix-la-Chapelle, 152o; Latin secretary of state from 1524, died in 1532 at Vienna). Juan, who probably studied at the University of Alcala, first appears as the anonymous author of a politico-religious Didlogo de Mercurio y Caron, written and published about 1528. A passage in this work may have suggested Don Quixote's advice to Sancho Panza on appointment to his governorship. The Didlogo attacked the corruptions of the Roman Church; hence Valdes, in fear of the Spanish Inquisition, left Spain for Naples in 153o. In 1531 he removed to Rome, where his criticisms of papal policy were condoned, since in his Didlogo he had upheld the validity of Henry VIII.'s marriage with Catherine of Aragon. From the autumn of 1533 he made Naples his permanent residence, his name being Italianized as Valdesso and Val d'Esso.
Valdes' house on the Chiaja was the centre of a literary and religious circle; his conversations and writings (circulated in manuscript) stimulated the desire for a spiritual reformation of the church. His first production at Naples was a philological treatise, Didlogo de la Lengua (1533). His works entitle him to a foremost place among Spanish prose writers. His friends urged him to seek distinction as a humanist, but his bent was towards problems of Biblical interpretation in their bearing on the devout life. Vermigli (Peter Martyr) and Marcantonio Flaminio were leading spirits in his coterie, which included Vittoria Colonna and her sister-in-law, Giulia Gonzaga. On Ochino, for whose sermons he furnished themes, his influence was great. Carne secchi, who had known Valdes at Rome as "a modest and well bred courtier," found him at Naples (1540) "wholly intent upon the study of Holy Scripture," translating portions into Spanish from Hebrew and Greek, with comments and introductions. To him Carnesecchi ascribes his own adoption of the Evangelical doctrine of justification by faith, and at the same time his rejection of the policy of the Lutheran schism. Valdes died at Naples in May 1541.
His death scattered his band of associates. Abandoning the hope of a regenerated Catholicism, Ochino and Vermigli left Italy. Some of Valdes's writings were by degrees published, in Italian translations. They combine a delicate vein of semi-mystical spirituality with the personal charm attributed to their author in all contemporary notices. Llorente traces in Valdes the in fluence of Tauler ; any such influence must have been at second hand. The Aviso on the interpretation of Scripture, based on Tauler, was probably the work of Alphonso. Valdes was in relations with Fra Benedetto of Mantua, the anonymous author of Del Benefizio di Gesis Cristo Crocefisso, revised by Flaminio (reprinted by Babington, Cambridge, 1855). The suggestion that
Valdes was unsound on the Trinity was first made in 1567 by the Transylvanian bishop, Francis David (see article SociNus); it has been adopted by Sand (1684), Wallace (185o) and other anti-Trinitarian writers, and is countenanced by Bayle. But Valdes never treats of the Trinity (even when commenting on Matt. xxviii. 19), reserving it (in his Latte Spirituelle) as a topic for advanced Christians; yet he explicitly affirms the consub stantiality of the Son, whom he unites in doxologies with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Opusc. p. 145). Practical theology interested him more than speculative; his aim being the promo tion of a healthy and personal piety.
Notices of Valdes in Sand (Biblioth. Antitrinitar, 1684), Bayle and Wallace (Antitrin. Biog., 185o) are inadequate. Revival of interest in him is due to McCrie (Hist. Ref. in Italy, 1827; Hist. Ref. in Spain, 1829). See B. Wiffen's Life of Valdes prefixed to Betts's translation of the Considerations, 1865. E. Boehmer, Span. Reformers of Two Centuries (1874), Lives of J. and A. de Valdes (1882) , and article in Realencyklopddie fur Prot. Theol. and Kirche (1885). See also M. Young, Aonio Paleario (186o) ; K. Benrath, Bernardino Ochino (1875) ; Menendez Pelayo, Los Heterodoxos Espaiioles (188o) ; G. Bonet-Maury, Early Sources of Eng. Unit. Christ. (trans. E. P. Hall, 5884). (A. Go.; X.)