PEREZ, ANTONIO, Minister of Philip II. of Spain, was born in Aragon in 1539. His father was secretary of state under Charles I. and Philip II., and he himself was appointed to this office when only 25 years of age, and acquired the entire confidence of the king. Don Juan d' Austria, having sent his confidant, Juan de Escovedo, to Spain, to solicit aid against the party of Orange; and Escovedo having rendered himself an object of hatred both to the king and to Perez, the former resolved to put Lim out of the way by murder, and intrusted Perez with the accomplishment of this design, %Odell Perez, to gratify his own revenge, accomplished accordingly. Mar. 31, 1578. The family of Escovedo den3un-aal Perez as the murderer, and all his enemies joined against him. The king at first sought to shield him; but in July, 1581, lie was arrested, and by torture forced to confess. He succeeded, however, in making his escape to Aragon, were he put hirm;elf under protection of its laws. After a long and severe inquiry into his con duct, he was found guilty of many acts of fraud and corruption, and condemned to death in Madrid; but theitaticia major, or highest court of justice in Saragossa, refused to deliver him up. The king applied for aid in May. 1:191, to the inquisition, and the
Unigonese court delivered him up to its agents, but the people rose in tumult, and lib erated him. This happened repeatedly; and at last, in Sep., 1591, Philip II. enterers Aragon with an army powerful enough to subdue all opposition, abolished the old con stitutional privileges of the country, and caused a number of the principal people to he executed. Perez, however, made his escape, avoiding the many plots which the king laid for his assassination. Ile was condemned in Spain as a heretic, but was treated with great kindness in Paris and London. He spent the latter years of his life in Paris, and died there in 1611 in great poverty. Perez wrote an account of his misfortunes, which was published at Paris in 1598, under the title of Relaciones.