Don Jose Malladas. Don John, in return, put himself at the head of a rising of Aragon and Catalonia, which led to the expulsion of Nithard on 25 February 1669. Don John was, however, forced to content himself with the viceroyalty of Aragon. In 1677, the queen mother aroused universal opposition by her shameless favour for Fernando de Valenzuela. Don John was able to drive her from court, and establish himself as prime minister. Great hopes were entertained for his administration, but it proved disappointing and short; Don John died, perhaps by poison, on 17 September 1679. Popish Plot His name featured prominently in the Popish Plot fabricated by the notorious informer Titus Oates in England in 1678. Oates unwisely claimed to have met Don John in Madrid; when questioned closely by Charles II of England, who had met Don John in Brussels in 1656, it became clear that Oates had no idea what he looked like, confirming the King's suspicion that the Plot was an invention. Ancestry References Dunlop, John C. 1834. Memoirs of Spain during the Reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II. from 1621 to 1700, vol. II. Thomas Clark: Edinburgh. Stolicka, Ondrej. Different German Perspectives on Spanish Politics in the 1670s: The Reaction of Vienna and Berlin on the Coup of Juan José de Austria in the Year 1677, JEHM 23(4), 2019, pp. 367–385. Notes 1629 births 1679 deaths 17th-century House of Habsburg Burials in the Pantheon of Infantes at El Escorial Governors of the Habsburg Netherlands Illegitimate children of Portuguese monarchs Illegitimate children of Spanish monarchs Military personnel of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) Regents of Spain Roman Catholic monarchs Spanish generals Viceroys of Catalonia Viceroys of Naples Viceroys of Sicily Sons of kings