Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza

Cardinal and Primate of Spain, b. at Guadalajara, 3 May, 1428; d. there, 11 January, 1495. He came to the court of King Juan II of Castile in 1450, was made canon of Toledo the same year, and became Bishop of Calahorra on 28 November, 1453, and of Sigüenza on 80 October 1467. On 7 May, 1473, he was created cardinal-deacon with the titular church of S. Maria in Dominica; on 9 May, 1474, he became Archbishop of Seville ; on 6 July, 1478, cardinal-priest with the titular church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme; and finally, on 13 November, 1482, Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain. From 8 July, 1482, to 15 January, 1483, he was also administrator of the Diocese of Osma. In 1473 he was appointed chancellor of King Henry IV of Castile and, after Henry's death in 1474, grand chancellor of Ferdinand and Isabella. In his younger days he lived a life of laxity, but, during the twenty-two years of his chancellorship, he used his great influence for the good of the Church and his country, being one of the few great men of Spain who advocated the cause of Columbus. His great revenues were consumed in the erection of magnificent churches and charitable institutions ; at Valladolid he erected at his own expense the College of Santa Cruz for poor students, and at Toledo a hospital of the same name for foundlings. To the latter he bequeathed his entire fortune of 75,000 ducats. On his death-bed he recommended the great Ximenes as his successor.