Juan Escoiquiz

Juan Escoiquiz Morata (1762 – 27 November 1820) was a Spanish ecclesiastic, politician and writer.

Early life Escoiquiz was born in Ocaña in 1762. His father was a general officer and he began life as a page in the court of King Charles III. He entered the church and was provided for by a prebend at Zaragoza. In his memoirs, Manuel de Godoy asserts that Escoiquiz sought to gain his favor by flattery. There is every reason to believe that this is an accurate statement of the case.

Life at court Escoiquiz was selected to be the tutor of the heir-apparent, Ferdinand, afterwards King Ferdinand VII and said when appointed that he would be happy if his tutoring "leads to his being the most humane of Princes".

He began to hope that he might play the part of those court ecclesiastics who had often had an active share in the government of Spain. He was seen to "exercise a great power over the royal pupil" and tried to encourage Ferdinand to have Godoy removed from his post. Escoiquiz published at Bourges a translation of John Milton's Paradise Lost. It was in verse and softened or omitted the anti-Catholic passages to make it more acceptable to Spanish Catholics. Escoiquiz himself noted in the book's translator's prologue that he leaves out parts which are "ridiculous and indecent, contrary to the rites and practices of the Catholic Church, suitable to the religious sect into which Milton had been born, but which far from increasing the work's merit indeed disfigure it". Cross of Distinction of El Escorial. Cross of Distinction of Valençay. Dignity of the cathedral of Toledo. Chief Librarian of His Majesty.