Don José Nicolás de Azara, Marquis of Nibbiano, doctor of law, politician and diplomat, was born on 5 December 1730 at Barbuñales (Aragón). He was a brilliant student of law and letters at Huesca and later at Salamanca.
Civil servant at the Secretariat of State (Secretaría de Estado), he received the Croix de Chevalier of the Order of Charles III. He was sent to Rome en 1765 as Spanish agent and Procurator General during the pontificate of Clement XIII, he became Plenipotentiary Minister in 1784, and finally State Minister during the accession of Charles IV in 1788. He played an important role in the signature of the Peace of Basle with France on 22 July, 1795.
During the pontificates of Clement XIV (of whom he was a close friend), Pius VI and Pius VII, he revealed prodigious diplomatic capacities, particularly during the negociations relating to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain.
Spanish ambassador in Paris, from March 1798 to November 1803, he signed the Peace of Amiens for King Charles IV. He died on 26 January 1804.
Memoirs
Memorias del ilustrado aragonés José Nicolás de Azara, ed. Gabriel Sánchez Espinosa
Zaragoza: Institución “Fernando el Católico”, 2000, 438 p.; (Collection: “Fernando el Católico”, number 2077) (in Spanish).