OLIVARES, GASPAR DE GUZMAN de. - Known as the “count-duke,” Spanish minister, b. in Rome in 1587, d. at Toro (Zamora) on 22 July 1645. Son of Enrico, Spanish ambassador to Rome. Filippo III appointed him gentleman of the bedchamber to the heir apparent in 1615. When the latter became Filippo IV, he entrusted him with the conduct of State affairs.
O. began his government with a vigorous purge of all powerful and corrupt favourites, reduced expenditure, and sought to restore the national economy. But he did not succeed in eradicating abuses and was himself accused of having improperly enriched himself. In order to restore Spanish prestige, he involved the country in the Thirty Years’ War, which exhausted its resources. His responsibility has, however, been exaggerated, since Spain’s decline did not begin with him, and because he found himself having to contend with a statesman such as Richelieu. Military reverses, the Catalan revolt of 1640, and the Portuguese secession of 1641 caused him to fall from favour, so that he was dismissed in 1643.