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JIMENES (or XIMENES) DE CISNEROS, FRA...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 416 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JIMENES (or XIMENES) DE CISNEROS, FRANCISCO (1436-1517)  , See also:Spanish See also:cardinal and statesman, was See also:born in 1436 at Torrelaguna in See also:Castile, of See also:good but poor See also:family . He studied at See also:Alcala de Henares and afterwards at See also:Salamanca; and in 1459, having entered See also:holy orders, he went to See also:Rome . Returning to See also:Spain in 1465, he brought with him an " expective " See also:letter from the See also:pope, in virtue of which he took See also:possession of the See also:archpriest-See also:ship of Uzeda in the See also:diocese of See also:Toledo in 1473 . Carillo, See also:arch-See also:bishop of Toledo, opposed him, and on his obstinate refusal to give way threw him into See also:prison . For six years See also:Jimenes held out, and at length in 1480 Carillo restored him to his See also:benefice . This Jimenes exchanged almost at once for a chaplaincy at Siguenza, under Cardinal See also:Mendoza, bishop of Siguenza, who shortly appointed him See also:vicar-See also:general of his diocese . In that position Jimenes won See also:golden opinions from ecclesiastic and layman; and he seemed to be on the sure road to distinction among the See also:secular See also:clergy, when he abruptly resolved to become a See also:monk . Throwing up all his benefices, and changing his baptismal name Gonzales for that of Francisco, .he entered the Franciscan monastery of See also:San Juan de los Reyes, recently founded by See also:Ferdinand and See also:Isabella at Toledo . Not content with the See also:ordinary severities of the noviciate, he added voluntary austerities . He slept on the See also:bare ground, wore a See also:hair-See also:shirt, doubled his fasts, and scourged himself with much fervour; indeed throughout his whole See also:life, even when at the See also:acme of his greatness, his private life was most rigorously ascetic . The See also:report of his sanctity brought crowds to confess to him; but from them he retired to the lonely monastery of Our See also:Lady of Castanar; and he even built with his own hands a See also:rude hut in the neighbouring See also:woods, in which he lived at times as an anchorite . He was afterwards See also:guardian of a monastery at Salzeda .

Meanwhile Mendoza (now See also:

archbishop of Toledo) had not forgotten him; and in 1492 he recommended him to Isabella as her See also:confessor . The See also:queen sent for Jimenes, was pleased with him, and to his See also:great reluctance forced the See also:office upon him . The See also:post was politically important, for Isabella submitted to the See also:judgment of her See also:father-confessor not only her private affairs but also matters of See also:state . Jimenes's severe sanctity soon won him considerable See also:influence over Isabella; and thus it was that he first emerged into See also:political life . In 1494 the queen's confessor was appointed provincial of the See also:order of St See also:Francis, and at once set about reducing the laxity of the conventual to the strictness of the observantine See also:Franciscans . Intense opposition was continued even after Jimenes became archbishop of Toledo . The general of the order himself came from Rome to interfere with the archbishop's See also:measures of reform, but the stern inflexibility of Jimenes, backed by the influence of the queen, subdued every obstacle . Cardinal Mendoza had died in 1495, and Isabella had secretly procured a papal See also:bull nominating her confessor to his diocese of Toledo, the richest and most powerful in Spain, second perhaps to no other dignity of the See also:Roman See also:Church See also:save the papacy . See also:Long and sincerely Jimenes strove to evade the See also:honour; but his nolo episcopari was after six months overcome by a second bull ordering him to accept See also:consecration . With the primacy of Spain was associated the lofty dignity of high See also:chancellor of Castile; but Jimenes still maintained his lowly life; and, although a See also:message from Rome required him to live in a See also:style befitting his See also:rank, the outward pomp only concealed his private See also:asceticism . In 1499 Jimenes accompanied the See also:court to See also:Granada, and there eagerly joined the mild and pious Archbishop Talavera in his efforts to convert the See also:Moors . Talayera had begun with See also:gentle measures, but Jimenes preferred to proceed by haranguing the fakihs, or doctors of See also:religion, and loading them with gifts .

Outwardly the latter method was successful; in two months the converts were so numerous that they had to be baptized by aspersion . The indignation of the unconverted Moors swelled into open revolt . Jimenes was besieged in his See also:

house, and the utmost difficulty was found in quieting the See also:city . See also:Baptism or See also:exile was offered to the Moors as a See also:punishment for See also:rebellion . The See also:majority accepted baptism; and Isabella, who had been momentarily annoyed at her arch-bishop's imprudence, was satisfied that he had done good service to See also:Christianity . On the 24th of See also:November 1504 Isabella died . Ferdinand at once resigned the See also:title of See also:king of Castile in favour of his daughter See also:Joan and her See also:husband the See also:archduke See also:Philip, assuming instead that of See also:regent . Philip was keenly jealous of Ferdinand's pre-tensions to the regency; and it required all the tact of Jimenes to bring about a friendly interview between the princes . Ferdinand finally retired from Castile; and, though Jimenes remained, his political See also:weight was less than before . The sudden See also:death of Philip in See also:September 1506 quite overset the already tottering See also:intellect of his wife; his son and See also:heir See also:Charles was still a See also:child; and Ferdinand was at See also:Naples . The nobles of Castile, mutually jealous, agreed to entrust affairs to the archbishop of Toledo, who, moved more by patriotic regard for his See also:country's welfare than by See also:special friendship for Ferdinand, strove to establish the final influence of that king in Castile . Ferdinand did not return till See also:August 15o7; and he brought. a cardinal's See also:hat for Jimenes .

Phoenix-squares

Shortly afterwards the new cardinal of Spain was appointed See also:

grand inquisitor-general for Castile and See also:Leon . The next great event in the cardinal's life was the expedition against the Moorish city of See also:Oran in the See also:north of See also:Africa, in which his religious zeal was supported by the prospect of the political and material gain that would accrue to Spain from the possession of such a station . A preliminary expedition, equipped, like that which followed, at the expense of Jimenes, captured the See also:port of Mers-el-Kebir in 1505; and in 1509 a strong force, accompanied , by the cardinal in See also:person, set See also:sail for Africa, and in one See also:day the wealthy city was taken by See also:storm . Though the See also:army remained to make fresh conquests, Jimenes returned to Spain, and occupied himself with the See also:administration of his diocese, and in endeavouring to recover from the regent the expenses of his Oran expedition . On the 28th of See also:January 1516 Ferdinand died, leaving Jimenes as regent of Castile for Charles (afterwards Charles V.), then a youth of sixteen in the See also:Netherlands . Though Jimenes at once took See also:firm hold of the reins of See also:government, and ruled in a determined and even autocratic manner, the haughty and turbulent Castilian See also:nobility and the jealous intriguing Flemish councillors of Charles combined to render his position peculiarly difficult; while the evils consequent upon the unlimited demands of Charles for See also:money threw much undeserved odium upon the regent . In violation of the See also:laws, Jimenes acceded to Charles's See also:desire to be proclaimed king; he secured the person of Charles's younger See also:brother Ferdinand; he fixed the seat of the See also:cortes at See also:Madrid; and he established a See also:standing army by drilling the citizens of the great towns . Immediately on Ferdinand's death, See also:Adrian, See also:dean of See also:Louvain, afterwards pope, produced a See also:commission from Charles appointing him regent . Jimenes admitted him to a nominal equality, but took care that neither he nor the subsequent commissioners of Charles ever had any real See also:share of See also:power . In September 1517 Charles landed in the See also:province of See also:Asturias, and Jimenes hastened to meet him . On the way, however, he See also:fell See also:ill, not without a suspicion of See also:poison . While thus feeble, he received a letter from Charles coldly thanking him for his services, and giving him leave to retire to his diocese .

A few See also:

hours after this virtual dismissal, which some, however, say the cardinal never saw, Francisco Jimenes died at Roa, on the 8th of November 1517 . Jimenes was a bold and determined statesman . Sternly and inflexibly, with a confidence that became at times over-bearing, he carried through what he had decided to be right, with as little regard for the convenience of others as for his own . In the midst of a corrupt clergy his morals were irreproachable . He was liberal to all, and founded and maintained very many benevolent institutions in his diocese . His whole See also:time was devoted either to the state or to religion; his only recreation was in theological or scholastic discussion . Perhaps one of the most noteworthy points about the cardinal is the advanced See also:period of life at which he entered upon the See also:stage where he was to See also:play such leading parts . Whether his abrupt See also:change from the secular to the See also:regular clergy was the fervid outcome of religious See also:enthusiasm or the far-seeing move of a wily schemer has been disputed; but the See also:constant austerity of his life, his unvarying superiority to small See also:personal aims, are arguments for the former alternative that are not to be met by merely pointing to the actual honours and power he at last attained . In 1500 was founded, and, in 1508 was opened, the university of Alcala. de Henares, which, fostered by Cardinal Jimenes, at whose See also:sole expense it was raised, attained a great See also:pitch of outward magnificence and See also:internal See also:worth . At one time 7000 students met within its walls . In 1836 the university was removed to Madrid, and the costly buildings were See also:left vacant . In the hopes of supplanting the romances generally found in the hands of the See also:young, Jimenes caused to be published religious See also:treatises by himself and others .

He revived also the Mozarabic See also:

liturgy, and endowed a See also:chapel at Toledo, in which it was to be used . But his most famous See also:literary service was the See also:printing at Alcala (in Latin Complutum) of the Complutensian See also:Polyglott, the first edition of the See also:Christian Scriptures in the See also:original See also:text . In this See also:work, on which he is said to have expended See also:half a million of ducats, the cardinal was aided by the celebrated Stunica (D . See also:Lopez de Zuniga), the See also:Greek See also:scholar See also:Nunez de Guzman (Pincianus), the Hebraist Vergara, and the humanist Nebrija, by a Cretan Greek See also:Demetrius See also:Ducas, and by three Jewish converts, of whom See also:Zamora edited the See also:Targum to the See also:Pentateuch . The other Targums are not included . In the Old Testament See also:Jerome's version stands between the Greek and See also:Hebrew . The See also:synagogue and the Eastern church, as the See also:preface expresses it, are set like the thieves on this See also:side and on that, with Jesus (that is, the Roman Church) in the midst . The text occupies five volumes, and a See also:sixth contains a Hebrew See also:lexicon, &c . The work commenced in 1502 . The New Testament was finished in January 1514, and the whole in See also:April 1517 . It was dedicated to See also:Leo X., and was reprinted in 1572 by the See also:Antwerp firm of See also:Plantin, after revision by Benito Arias Montano at the expense of Philip II . The second edition is known as the Biblia Regia or Filipina .

The work by Alvaro See also:

Gomez de See also:Castro, De See also:Rebus Gestis Francisci Ximenii (See also:folio, 1659, Alcala), is the See also:quarry whence have come the materials for See also:biographies of Jimenes—in Spanish by Robles (1604) and Quintanilla (1633); in See also:French by See also:Baudier (1635), Marsollier (1684), Flechier (1694) and See also:Richard (1704) ; in See also:German by See also:Hefele (1844, translated into See also:English by See also:Canon See also:Dalton, 186o) and Havemann (1848); and in English by See also:Barrett (1813) . See also See also:Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella; Revue See also:des Deux Mondes (May 1841) and Mein. de l'Aced. d'hist. de Madrid, vol. iv .

End of Article: JIMENES (or XIMENES) DE CISNEROS, FRANCISCO (1436-1517)
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