Bedmar, Marquis de, cardinal and bishop of Oviedo, and a Spanish diplomatist, notorious for a part he played in a daring conspiracy in 1618 aimed at the destruction of Venice, but which, being betrayed, was defeated, for concern in which several people were executed, though the arch-delinquent got off; he is the subject of Otway's “Venice Preserved”; it was after this he was made cardinal, and governor of the Netherlands, where he was detested and obliged to retire (1572‒1655).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Bedlam * Bedouins