BEDMAR, ALFONSO DE CrEva, Marquis de, was b. in 1572. He has won an endur ing notoriety on account of his daring and unscrupulous plot for the destruction of Ven ice, to which city he had been appointed ambassador from the court of Spain in 1607. It was a difficult office to fill, for Venice and Spain cherished most unfriendly feelings towards each other. Bedinar probably conceived that he was acting a patriotic and jus tifiable part, in taking advantage of his position to play the spy and conspirator; but whether or not, his scheme was contrived with admirable ingenuity. Ile first leagued himself secretly with the duke of Ossuna, viceroy of Naples, and Don Pedro of Toledo, governor of Milan, whom he made his confidants and coadjutors. He then purchased the services of a large number of foreian mercenaries, and scattered them through the city, to prevent suspicion. Ossuna furnished him with a band of semi-pirates, who were to enter the Venetian fleet, corrupt the sailors, and hinder operations in any way they could. The conspirators were to set fire to the arsenal of the republic, and seize all the important posts. At this precise moment, the 3Iilanese troops were to appear at the extremity of the mainland, and those sailors who had been seduced from their allegiance were to convey them rapidly over to Venice. A Spanish fleet was to creep up the Adri
atic, in order to assist if necessary. The city was then to be plundered and destroyed. The day chosen was that on which the doge wedded the Adriatic, when all Venice was intent on beholding the august ceremony. Fortunately, the night before the crime was to have been perpetrated, one of the conspirators betrayed the whole. Several per sons were executed; but curiously enough, Bedmar, the arch-delinquent, was only dis missed. This has excited the skepticism of many writers as to the truth of the accusa tion; but the evidence in favor of the historic reality of the plot is generally held to be incontestable. The event forms the subject of Otway's popular and pathetic play, Venial Preserved. Bedmar now went to Flanders, where he became president of the council, and, in 1622, was made a cardinal by the pope. He then went to Rome. and filially returned to Spain as bishop of Oviedo, where he died in 1655. He is said to have been the author of a pamphlet published in 1612, directed against the liberties of Venice. It is entitled Squitlino della Liberia Veneta.