“ The nobles of Castile, mutually jealous, agreed to entrust affairs to the archbishop of Toledo, who, moved more by patriotic regard for his country’s welfare than by special friendship for Ferdinand, strove to establish the final influence of that king in Castile. Ferdinand did not return till August 1507; and he brought a cardinal’s hat for Jimenes. Shortly afterwards the new cardinal of Spain was appointed grand inquisitor-general for Castile and Leon. ”

“ A preliminary expedition, equipped, like that which followed, at the expense of Jimenes, captured the port of Mers-el-Kebir in 1505; and in 1509 a strong force, accompanied by the cardinal in person, set sail for Africa, and in one day the wealthy city was taken by storm. Though the army remained to make fresh conquests, Jimenes returned to Spain, and occupied himself with the administration of his diocese, and in endeavouring to recover from the regent the expenses of his Oran expedition. ”

“ JIMENES (or Ximenes) DE CISNEROS, FRANCISCO (1436–1517) , Spanish cardinal and statesman, was born in 1436 at Torrelaguna in Castile, of good but poor family. He studied at Alcalá de Henares and afterwards at Salamanca; and in 1459, having entered holy orders, he went to Rome. Returning to Spain in 1465, he brought with him an “expective” letter from the pope, in virtue of which he took possession of the archpriestship of Uzeda in the diocese of Toledo in 1473. Carillo, archbishop of Toledo, opposed him, and on his obstinate refusal to give way threw him into prison. ”

“ The post was politically important, for Isabella submitted to the judgment of her father-confessor not only her private affairs but also matters of state. Jimenes’s severe sanctity soon won him considerable influence over Isabella; and thus it was that he first emerged into political life. In 1494 the queen’s confessor was appointed provincial of the order of St Francis, and at once set about reducing the laxity of the conventual to the strictness of the observantine Franciscans. Intense opposition was continued even after Jimenes became archbishop of Toledo. ”