Person
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436-1517, OFM)Other forms
Torrelaguna (Madrid, España) 1436 - Roa (Burgos, España) 1517-11-08
Born in Torrelaguna (Madrid), from a noble family. Fernando took some courses about Theology and Law at the Universities of Salamanca and Rome. He began his priestly career as the Archpriest of Uceda and as the Vicar General and Provisor of the Diocese of Sigüenza, and later on, as the guardian and Superior of the Convent of La Salceda, after joining the Franciscans in 1484. He was the provincial superior of the Franciscan Convent of San Juan de los Reyes (Toledo), where he changed his birth name, Gonzalo, to Francisco. Isabella I named Fernando her confessor and her main adviser. In 1495, Isabella proposed and sent him to the see of Toledo as the first Archbishop, from where he tried to correct the deviant conduct of the secular clergy. In 1499, he went with the Catholic Monarchs to Granada. He was in charge of the forced conversions and the massive baptisms. Therefore, in 1502 the expulsion of the Muslim population who were not converted was ordered. Fernando financed and directed personally the expeditions to the Berber area, achieving the occupation of Oran (1509), Béjaïa and Tripoli. Moreover, he militarily stand out for his attempts to create an active militia called "gente de ordenanza", and for the reorganization of the German lansquenetes. Fernando also developed a humanitarian patronage work, which culminated in the foundation of the University of Alcalá in 1508, and in the printing of the well-known Complutensian Polyglot Bible (1517). He received the Cardinal's Galero in 1507 at the request of Ferdinad the Catholic, who also named him General Inquisitor the same year. Fernando was the executor of Isabella I and member of the provisional Regency established when Philip the Handsome died in 1506 (the members of the nobility named him the General Governor of the kingdom). Fernando was the person responsible for the return of Ferdinand the Catholic as the King of Castile in 1507, who named him in his will and as the Governor of Castile, Leon, Granada and Navarra until the arrival of his niece Charles V, who would be the King Charles I later on. He had to put down several attempted uprisings from the Castilian nobility and from the Flemish party, against the future emperor. Finally, Fernando died in Roa (Burgos).