Juan Perez de Saavedra was born at Cordova. His father was a captain in a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the municipality of that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, Anne de Guzman, was descended from a family as noble as that of her husband. Saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances, regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly, that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their authenticity, and passed for a knight commander of the military order of St. Jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for the space of a year and a half. In a short time, by means of the royal orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) if he had not clothed himself in scarlet, that is, if he had not taken it into his head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of a legate à latere.
He says, that being in the kingdom of Algarves, a short time after the institution of the Jesuits had been confirmed by Paul III., a priest of that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the kingdom of Portugal; that having heard him preach on St. Andrew's Day, he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him several days in his house. The jesuit, having discovered his talent during this period, expressed a wish to have a fac-simile of his brief, containing an eulogy on the Society of Jesus. He performed this task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would accrue to Portugal from the establishment of the Society of Jesus, it would be proper to introduce the Inquisition on the same plan as that of Spain. Saavedra then went to Tabilla, a town in the same province, where, with the assistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from Charles V. and Prince Philip his son, to the King of Portugal, John III. This bull was supposed to have been sent to Saavedra, as legate, to establish the Inquisition in Portugal, if the king consented.
Saavedra afterwards passed the frontier, and went to Ayamonte, in the kingdom of Seville. The Provincial and Franciscan monks of Andalusia had lately arrived there from Rome. Saavedra thought he would try if the bull would pass as authentic: he told the Provincial that some individual going to Portugal had dropped a parchment on the road, which he showed him, and begged to know if it was of importance, as, in that case, he would lose no time in restoring it to the person who had dropped it. The Provincial took the parchment for an original writing and true bull; he made the contents known to Saavedra, and expatiated on the advantages which Portugal would derive from it.
Saavedra went to Seville, and took into his service two confidants, one of whom was to be his secretary, the other his major-domo; he bought litters and silver-plate, and adopted the dress of a Roman cardinal; he sent his confidants to Cordova and Grenada to hire servants, and commanded them to go with his suite to Badajoz, where they gave out that they were the familiars of a Cardinal from Rome, who would pass through the city in his way to Portugal, to establish the Inquisition by the order of the Pope; they also announced that he would soon arrive, as he travelled post.
At the appointed time Saavedra appeared at Badajoz, where his servants publicly kissed his hand as the Pope's Legate. He left Badajoz for Seville, where he was received into the archiepiscopal palace of Cardinal Loaisa, who resided at Madrid in the quality of apostolical commissary-general of the holy crusade. He received the greatest marks of respect and devotion from Don Juan Fernandez de Temiño, the vicar-general. He remained eighteen days in this city, and during that time obtained, by false obligations, the sum of eleven hundred and thirty ducats from the heirs of the Marquis de Tarifa. He afterwards took the road to Llerena (where the Inquisition of Estremadura had been established), after going to different towns in the province; he was lodged in part of the buildings of the Inquisition, which was then occupied by the Inquisitors Don Pedro Alvarez Becerra and Don Louis de Cardenas, to whom he said that he meant to visit the Inquisition of Llerena in his quality of legate; and, after having fulfilled that part of his mission, he should proceed to Portugal, where he should establish the holy office on the plan of that of Spain.
Saavedra then returned to Badajoz, from whence he sent his secretary to Lisbon with his bulls and papers, that the court being informed of his arrival, might prepare to receive him. The mission of this agent caused great doubts and agitation at the court, where such a novelty was little expected: nevertheless, the king sent a nobleman to the frontier to receive the Cardinal Legate, who made his entry into Lisbon, where he passed three months, and was treated with every mark of respect: he then undertook a long journey into different parts of the kingdom, going over the dioceses, and taking a detailed account of them; it would have been difficult to discover the aim of his apostolical solicitude, if some unforeseen circumstances had not put an end to his imposture.
The Inquisition of Spain discovered this intrigue through the address of Cardinal Tabera, who shared the cares of government with the Prince of Asturias, at the time when Charles V. was absent in France. In consequence of the measures concerted between the cardinal and the Marquis de Villaneuva de Barcarrota, the governor of Badajoz, Saavedra was arrested at Nieva de Guadiana in the Portuguese territory, on the 23rd of January, 1541, where he was at table with the curate of the village, who had entreated that he would do him the honour of visiting his parish, as he had the others in the diocese. This request was only a snare, in order to arrest the impostor with more safety.
Saavedra says that, when he was arrested, three treasures which he had with him were seized; one of twenty thousand ducats, the produce of the fines of the condemned, destined for the holy office; the second of a hundred and fifty thousand ducats, which, he said, he intended to apply to the use of the church, and other good works; the third of ninety thousand ducats, which belonged to himself. Saavedra was taken to Madrid by the order of the procurator-general of the kingdom, and there imprisoned. The alcaldes of the court went to him, and received his declaration, which was necessary to the trial. The tribunal of the Inquisition had not then been established at Madrid, which was subject to that of Toledo. The inquisitors pretended that this affair ought to come before them, because it was to be presumed that the prisoner had renounced the Catholic religion, from the fictions which he had invented to procure money; as if Catholics did not commit greater crimes every day!
As the inquisitor-general was the lieutenant of the prince, the holy office was sure to prevail. Tabera, wishing to satisfy both parties, decreed that the alcaldes should remain in possession of the person of Saavedra, and proceed against him for his exactions, forgeries, and other political crimes, and that the holy office should take cognizance of the crimes against the faith which he had been guilty of, under the title of a cardinal.
The inquisitor reflected that Saavedra was a man of great talent, and that he therefore should be treated with moderation; besides that, he had always conducted himself like a real judge, except that he only condemned the accused to pay fines.