GONZLEZ DE MENDOZA, PEDRO, CARDINAL

(Cardenal) born May 3, 1428, Guadalajara, Castile died Jan. 11, 1495, Guadalajara Spanish prelate and diplomat who influenced Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon and was called, even in his own time, "the third king of Spain." Mendoza, the fifth son of the poet Iigo Lpez de Mendoza, Marqus de Santillana, studied at the University of Salamanca and became successively bishop of Calahorra (1454) and Sigenza (1467), archbishop of Seville (1474), and, finally, archbishop of Toledo and primate of Spain (1482). In 1473, through the influence of Rodrigo Borgia, the future Pope Alexander VI, he was created a cardinal. Brought to the attention of the court of Castile by Alonso de Fonseca, archbishop of Seville, Mendoza by 1465 had thrown his support and that of his powerful family to Henry IV in his struggles with the nobles. The succession to Henry IV was unsettled, because the paternity of his daughter and natural heir Joan was in doubt. Mendoza gave his support to the claims of Henry's half sister, Isabella, who in 1469 married Ferdinand of Aragon. On Henry's death (1474), Isabella declared herself queen and confirmed Mendoza as chancellor of Castile, a post he had received from Henry the year before. After a war over the succession, which ended successfully for Ferdinand and Isabella, Mendoza helped Isabella to strengthen the monarchy and give peace to the kingdom by pacifying the dissident nobles and by successfully negotiating with some of the most turbulent magnates in Andalusia. Mendoza was a supporter of Christopher Columbus and was also a patron of the arts. He himself was a humanist and translated Homer and Sallust for the benefit of his poet-father. In 1483 he founded the College of Santa Cruz, Valladolid, as part of the new educational system for the clergy. Mendoza helped Isabella in the reform of the Spanish episcopate, advising her to appoint bishops from the middle class.