Diego Sarmiento de Valladares was born in
Vigo in 1615, the son of Luis Sarmiento, señor de Valladares and Inés de Arines Romay, señora de Camos. He was closely related to
Jose Sarmiento de Valladares y Arines Romay, 1st Duke of Atrisco and
Viceroy of New Spain. Valladares was
ordained as a
priest on 4 October 1667. He was appointed
Bishop of Oviedo on 30 January 1668. He was
translated on 17 September 1668, becoming
Bishop of Plasencia.
Charles II of Spain also named him president of the
Council of Castile at this time, and he held that post until 1669. In 1669, he became
Grand Inquisitor of
Spain. He resigned his bishopric on 26 April 1677 but remained Grand Inquisitor until his death. In this capacity, he oversaw one of the
Spanish Inquisition's largest
auto-da-fés of the seventeenth century, held in the
Plaza Mayor, Madrid in 1680. Valladares died in
Madrid on 29 January 1695. ==References==