Juan Antonio Llorente, ORE (30 March 1756 in Rincón de Soto (La Rioja), Spain – 5 February 1823 in Madrid) was a Spanish historian.

"[1] Translated into English, German, Dutch, and Italian, it attracted much attention in Europe and involved its author in considerable persecution.

The discovery of his Carbonarian activities[citation needed] and the publication of his Portraits politiques des papes in 1822 culminated in a peremptory order to leave France.

[2] According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, both the personal character and the literary accuracy of Llorente have been assailed, but, although he was not an exact historian, there is no doubt, , that he made an honest use of documents relating to the Inquisition which, in part, are no longer extant.

[2] Llorente's unpublished notes contributed a century later to the most reliable biography (by Gregorio Marañón) of Philip II's infamous secretary, Antonio Pérez.