Juan Manuel Fernández Pacheco

Juan Manuel María de la Aurora Fernández Pacheco Acuña Girón y Portocarrero, grandee of Spain, 8th Duke of Escalona, 8th Marquis of Villena, 12th Count of San Esteban de Gormaz and 8th Count of Xiquena (Marcilla, Navarra, 7 September 1650 – Madrid, June 29, 1725), was a Spanish aristocrat, politician and academician.

He was the son of Diego López Pacheco, 7th Duke of Escalona (1599–1653).
He served as viceroy and captain-general of the Kingdoms of Navarre, Aragon, Catalonia, Sicily and Naples. He was awarded the title of Knight of Order of the Golden Fleece on 9 October 1687.

In 1694 he lost the Battle of Torroella against the invading French.
During the War of the Spanish Succession, he was imprisoned in Gaeta, Naples, by the Austrian empire after losing the Siege of Gaeta (1707). Upon his release and return to Spain, he founded (under orders of King Philip V) the Royal Spanish Academy or Real Academia Española (RAE). He was elected its 1st lifetime Director in 1713. He was also Mayordomo mayor to the King.

This Pacheco surname comes from Portugal and it has had a quite complicated, calculating, troublesome and violent political history in the Spanish Kingdom since the beginnings of the 15th century, with a great deal of "profitable marriages" meanwhile.

Juan Pacheco, (Belmonte 1419 - Trujillo 1 November 1474), was "Rico-hombre de Castilla", 3rd señor de Belmonte, 1st marquiss de Villena (12 July 1445), by King Juan II of Castile, 1st Duke of ESCALONA (17 December 1472) by King Enrique IV of Castile, and many other minor titles, professed as a Knight on the Military Order of Santiago having the approval from the Roman Pope on 15 November 1453 as he had been previously married.

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