Juan de Tassis, 2nd Count of Villamediana

[2] On leaving Salamanca he married in 1601, and succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1607; he was prominent in the life of the capital, was forbidden to attend court, and resided in Italy from 1611 to 1617.

Prominent men such as the Duke of Lerma, Rodrigo Calderón, Count of Oliva and Jorge de Tobar were frequent targets.

[2] According to legend, a fire broke out while Villamediana's masque, La gloria de Niquea, was being acted before the court on 14 May 1622, and he carried the queen to a place of safety.

Suspicion deepened; Villamediana neglected a significant warning that his life was in peril, and "he was murdered as he stepped out of his coach.

[2] In 1928, Narciso Alonso Cortés [es] claimed to have discovered documents in Simancas that implicated Villamediana in a trial on sodomy which concluded with the burning of five young men on 5 December 1622.