Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros

Who was Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros?

Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, O.F.M., known as Ximénes de Cisneros in his own lifetime, was a Spanish cardinal and statesman. Starting from humble beginnings he rose to the heights of power becoming a religious reformer, twice regent of Spain, Cardinal, Grand Inquisitor, missionary of the Moors, promoted the Crusades in North Africa, and founded the Complutense University. Among his literary works he is best known for funding the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the first printed polyglot of the entire Bible. He also edited and published the first printed editions of the missal and the breviary of the Mozarabic Rite and established a chapel with a college of thirteen priests to celebrate the Mozarabic divine office and mass each day in the Cathedral of Toledo.

Cardinal Cisneros' life coincided with and greatly influenced a dynamic period in Spanish history during the reign of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile when Spain underwent many significant changes, leading it into its prominent role in the Golden Age of Empire.