ho governed in the name
of Philip III., Calderon was conspicuous for greed, audacity and insolence.
He was created count of Oliva, a knight of Santiago, commendador of Ocana
in the order, secretary to the king (_secretario de camara_), was loaded
with plunder, and made an advantageous marriage with Ines de Vargas. As an
insolent upstart he was peculiarly odious to the enemies of Lerma. Two
religious persons, Juan de Santa Maria, a Franciscan, and Mariana de San
Jose, prioress of La Encarnacion, worked on the queen Margarita, by whose
influence Calderon was removed from the secretaryship in 1611. He, however,
retained the favour of Lerma, an indolent man to whom Calderon's activity
was indispensable. In 1612 he was sent on a special mission to Flanders,
and on his return was made marques de las Siete Iglesias in 1614. When the
queen Margarita died in that year in childbirth, Calderon was accused of
having used witchcraft against her. Soon after it became generally known
that he had ordered the murder of one Francisco de Juaras. When Lerma was
driven from court in 1618 by the intrigues of his own son, the duke of
Uceda, and the king's confessor, the Dominican Aliaga, Calderon was seized
upon as an expiatory victim to satisfy public clamour. He was arrested,
despoiled, and on the 7th of January 1620 was savagely tortured to make him
confess to the several charges of murder and witchcraft brought against
him. Calderon confessed to the murder of Juaras, saying that the man was a
pander, and adding that he gave the particular reason by word of mouth
since it was more fit to be spoken than written. He steadfastly denied all
the other charges of murder and the witchcraft. Some hope of pardon seems
to have remained in his mind till he heard the bells tolling for Philip
III. in March 1621. "He is dead, and I too am dead" was his resigned
comment. One of the first measures of the new reign was to order his
execution. Calderon met his fate firmly and with a show of piety on the
21st of October 1621, and this bearing, together with his broken and
prematurely aged appearance, turned public sentiment in his favour. The
magnificent devotion of his wife helped materially to placate the hatred he
had aroused. Lord Lytton made Rodrigo Calderon the hero of his story
_Calderon the Courtier_.

See Modests de la Fuente, _Historia General Espana_ (Madrid, 1850-1867),
vol. xv. pp. 452 et seq.; Quevedo, _Obras_ (Madrid, 1794), vol.
x.--_Grandes A