Diego de Saavedra Fajardo

After receiving a religious education at Salamanca, he took minor orders, and in 1606 was appointed secretary to Cardinal Gaspar de Borja y Velasco, the Spanish ambassador at Rome.

Here, with the position of resident ambassador in the court of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, leader of the Holy League, he pursued the union of the pro-Habsburg forces with the German Emperor Ferdinand II and with Catholic powers.

In 1636, Emperor Ferdinand II died, and Diet of Regensburg took place for the election of his successor, where Saavedra went as representative of Spain.

His diplomatic activity intensified when Richelieu declared war to Spain in 1635, and with the successive defeats of the Spanish troops by the French armies.

Another work ascribed to Saavedra, the República literaria, was published posthumously in 1670; it is a satirical discussion on some of the leading characters in the ancient and modern world of letters.

His work, however, was mainly inspired by the Emblemata política (1618), by Jakob Bruck Angermunt, being the intention of the author to compose a guide for the suitable political formation of a Christian prince.