Diego Duque de Estrada

Who was Diego Duque de Estrada?

Diego Duque de Estrada was a Spanish memoir writer, soldier and adventurer.

He was the son of Juan Duque de Estrada, also a soldier of rank. Having been left an orphan when very young, he was educated by a cousin. While still young he was betrothed to his cousin's daughter. One night he found an intruder in the house, a gentleman with whom he was acquainted, and in a fit of jealousy killed both him and the young lady. The prevailing code of honor was considered a sufficient justification for Duque de Estrada's violence, but the law looked upon the act as a vulgar assassination, and he had to flee.

After leading a vagabond life in the south of Spain, he was arrested at Ecija, was brought to Toledo, and was there put to torture with extreme ferocity in order to extort a general confession as to his life during the past months. He had the strength not to yield to pain, and was finally able to escape from prison, partly by the help of a nun in a religious house which faced the prison and partly by the intervention of friends. He made his way to Naples, where he entered the service of the Duke of Osuna, at that time viceroy.

Duque de Estrada saw a good deal of fighting both with the Turks and the Venetians; but he is mainly interesting because he was employed by the viceroy in the conspiracy against Venice. He was one of the disguised Spanish soldiers who were sent into the town to destroy the arsenal and who were warned in time that the conspiracy had been betrayed, and therefore escaped. After the fall of his patron, Duque de Estrada resumed his vagabond life, served under Bethlen Gabor in Transylvania, and in the Thirty Years' War. In 1633 he entered the order of San Juan de Dios, and died at some time after 1637 in Sardinia, where he is known to have taken part in the defence of the island against an attack by the French.