DEZA, PEDRO. - Cardinal, born in Seville to a noble family on 24 February 1520, died in Rome on 27 August 1600. For eight years he served as vicar general of the archbishop of Compostela, then as auditor of the Senate of Valladolid; Pius IV appointed him archdeacon of Calatrava. As counsellor of the Inquisition and president of the chancellery of Granada (1567), he had to confront the Moorish rebellion following the enforcement of laws imposing their conversion to Christianity and prohibiting certain customs (1567–71).
He was created cardinal on 21 February 1578 at the insistence of Philip II; from then on he lived permanently in Rome, participated in the election of five popes, and was a member of the Congregation of the Inquisition. Extremely wealthy, he employed the historian G. Gonzales de Avila and had Martino Longhi the Elder build a palace on the Lungara, which he later sold to the Borghese family.