DEZA, PEDRO. - Cardinal, born at Seville of a noble family on 24 February 1520, died at Rome on 27 August 1600. For 8 years he was vicar general of the archbishop of Compostela, then auditor of the Senate of Valladolid; Pius IV made him archdeacon of Calatrava. As councillor of the Inquisition and president of the chancery of Granada (1567), he had to confront the rebellion of the Moors following the enforcement of laws that imposed conversion to Christianity upon them and prohibited certain customs (1567-71).
At the insistence of Philip II, he was created cardinal on 21 February 1578; thereafter he always lived in Rome: he took part in the election of 5 popes and was a member of the Congregation of the Inquisition. Very wealthy, he had the historian G. Gonzales de Avila in his service, and had a palace built on the Lungara by the architect Martino Longhi, which he later sold to the Borghese family.