Diego Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas

Diego de Sandoval y Rojas de la Cerda, 9th Count of Saldaña, Baptised at the Church of Santiago, Madrid on 2 May 1587, Diego de Sandoval was the second-born son of Catalina de la Cerda and Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas. His father would, in 1599, favourite of Philip III, until he was brought down by his eldest son, Cristóbal Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Uceda (Diego de Sandoval's elder brother, by ten years and Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, engineered the exile of his father from the court, and Uceda's own succession to the position his father had held, in 1618, and shortly thereafter, naming Aliaga Grand Inquisitor of Spain.

In 1599, as chronicled by the Court historian Luis Cabrera de Córdoba, special dispensation was given by Pope Clement VIII to allow Diego de Sandoval to became a Grand Commander of the Order of Calatrava before having reached the statutory age of seventeen. The Commandery was given directly by Philip III, as Grand Master of the Order.

In 1603, he came into the countship of Saldaña (as count consort) through his marriage to Countess Luisa de Mendoza, heiress of the 6th Duchess of the Infantado, Ana de Mendoza. Their youngest daughter, Catalina, the future 8th Duchess of the Infantado, was born in 1616.

Lope de Vega, in a letter to the Duke of Sessa, dated September 1617, described the count as "the living image of his father, discreet, kind, polite, friendly and worthy of especial consideration in this age". Its illustrious members included Lope de Vega, Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, and the Count-Duke of Olivares.

In 1611, Saldaña re-established the academy although another source states that the academy's first session was held on 15 April 1612, with an inaugural speech by Vélez de Guevara.

Among the sources that refer to Cervantes having attending Saldaña's academia is a letter by Lope to the Duke of Sessa, dated 2 March 1612, in order to read his own verse at that event, which he refers to, at that time, as having taken place at the "academia de Parnaso", although it would later also be known as the Academia Selvaje.

The academia finally broke up due to the animosity between two opposing factions following a violent row between Pedro Soto de Rojas and Luis Vélez de Guevara.

Cervantes dedictated his ode "Florida y tierna rama" ["Flowered and Tender Branch"] to Saldaña and writes that he [Cervantes] lived under Saldaña's wing "a tu sombra" (cited in Herrero García, p. 507.). Although the title of Saldaña later passed to Diego de Sandoval's eldest son Rodrigo, as heir to his grandmother, the Duchess of the Infantado, Diego de Sandoval continued using it until his death, while his son Rodrigo used the title Count of Cid. The eldest son of his marriage to Mariana de Córdoba, and who would go on to become the 5th Duke of Lerma, was also Diego Gómez de Sandoval.

Portrait The National Palace of Sintra in Portugal has a full-length court portrait of Saldaña at the age of eighteen, from the Spanish school, attributed to Juan Pantoja de la Cruz who, in 1602, had painted a full-length portrait of Saldaña's father, the 1st Duke of Lerma. It was acquired by Maria Pia of Savoy in 1885 and was catalogued for many years as being of Sebastian, King of Portugal.