VALDÉS, Juan de. - Spanish man of letters and writer, son of a Ferdinando and brother of Alfonso (d. 1532), who was imperial secretary and author of two dialogues; b. at Cuenca toward the end of the 15th century, d. at Naples early in 1541.
He served in the courts of several Spanish nobles, studied law and sacred sciences, and was influenced on the one hand by Erasmus of Rotterdam and on the other by the alumbrados. In 1529 his *Dialogo de doctrina christiana* appeared anonymously; though it did not openly contradict orthodoxy, it provoked a trial against the author. He is found at Rome about 1530 as chamberlain of Clement VII and also imperial secretary. “Archivist” of Naples in December 1532, he left Rome only after the death of Clement VII and took up permanent residence at Naples in 1535, where, though he had resigned his post as archivist, he received offices and commissions from the Spanish government and maintained relations with the ministers of Charles V. Here in 1535-36 he composed the *Dialogo de la lengua*, a notable document for the history of the Spanish language and literature. Of particular importance in the religious life of the time was the influence he exercised on a group of intellectuals beginning with Giulia Gonzaga, widow of Vespasiano Colonna. For her he wrote the dialogue *L’Alfabeto cristiano*, preserved in the Italian translation of Marco Antonio Magno, and commentaries on the Epistles to the Corinthians, to the Romans, on the Gospel of St. Matthew, a translation and commentary on the Psalms. He also wrote *Le cento e dieci divine considerazioni... delle cose utili, più necessarie e più perfette della christiania professione*, translated into other languages; a catechism, *Lacte spirituale*, on how to nourish and raise the children of Christians; and some minor treatises, all printed after his death. Besides other noblewomen, ecclesiastics TONCHINO (v.), who took inspiration from him for his preaching, VERMIGLI, PIETRO MARTIRE (v.), Pietro Antonio di Capua, archbishop of Otranto, Carnesecchi, then Marco Antonio Flaminio, Jacopo Bonfadio, and others. Though he did not renounce the utility of good works, the cornerstone of his teaching was justification by faith alone through the application of the merits of Christ, without need of the Sacrament of Penance for the remission of sins; and though he professed Catholicism, he came to renounce the duty of belonging to the Church and to doubt Purgatory. In the end it was a mild form of Lutheranism that he adopted, which found favor even outside Naples because of a certain unction of greater interior piety compared with the decadence of ecclesiastical morals. Like Carnesecchi, he was a bitter enemy of the Farnese. He soon found himself in conflict with the first Theatines established in Naples in those years and died without having been condemned by the Church.