A Spanish Episode of the Thirty Years war: The Embassy of Marquis of Cadreita near Holy Roman Empire and the approach to the Elector of Saxony (1629-1631)

In 1629, taking advantage of the trip to the Infanta Maria to marry the son of Emperor Ferdinand III-future, the Spanish Monarchy Holy Empire sent a new ambassador: Don Lope Aux Diez de Armendariz, Marquis Cadreita I, to cover the ordinary vacancy in that court had left the Marquis de Aytona following his move to Flanders. Their mission seemed to not go beyond (and so far has understood historiography) to strengthen the Spanish position in Vienna collaborating with other agents posted there. However, our research aims to show that, to rush events in the aftermath of Regensburg, the main business that ended up going Don Lope was no other than to try to redirect the relations with Saxony, Dresden possibly using, if necessary, to prevent uncompromising policy of Ferdinand II provoke agreement with Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Elector. The details of this embassy are the focus of this article, not for a scholarship itch, but because we believe that the lack of this and other similar events far removed from the traditional image of the seventeenth-century Spain, greatly distorts the perception of the Thirty Years War and the role played in it by the Catholic monarchy.