Francisco Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros: Encyclopedia II - Francisco Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros - Reform Revolt and Crusade

Francisco Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros - Reform Revolt and Crusade

From his new position Cisneros set about reforming the Franciscan order in Spain. The ordained friars had to give up the practice of having "wives" (or concubines). They had to reside in the parish where they were supposed to work, attend confession, and preach every Sunday. There was intense opposition. By 1498 the reforms were expanded to included not only Franciscans but other religious orders as well. The resistance was so fierce that four hundred monks and friars fled to Africa with their "wives" and became Muslims. The Minister General of the order himself came from Rome to interfere with the archbishop's strict reforms, but the stern and inflexible Jimenez, backed by the influence of a strong Queen, held firm in his convictions.

In 1499 Cisneros accompanied the court of the Spanish Inquisition to Granada, and there joined Archbishop Talavera in his efforts to convert the Islamic Moors to Christianity. Talavera had used the more gentle measure of slow conversion through education, but Cisneros proceeded with the more direct and quick means of forced mass conversion and ordered the burning of all Arabic manuscripts in Granada except those dealing with medicine. The indignation of the unconverted Mudejar swelled into open revolt known as the First Rebellion of the Alpujarras. The revolt was suppressed and they were given a choice of baptism or exile. The majority accepted baptism and by 1500 Cisneros reported that "There is now no one in the city who is not a Christian, and all the mosques are churches". However, he had created an insolvable problem that would not end until 1609 when the Moriscos would be expelled from Spain. Muslims would remember him as a tyrant.

On November 26, 1504 Isabella died. Ferdinand made a claim for the throne against his son-in-law Philip I of Castile, and Cisneros helped mediate the dispute in the Agreement of Salamanca which left Philip as king of Castile. When Philip died in 1506, Ferdinand was in Naples and Cisneros set up a regent government in his absence, and stopped a plot by a group of high nobles to take over the throne. In return for his loyalty, Ferdinand made Cisneros Grand Inquisitor for Castile and Leon in 1507 and gave him a Cardinal's hat.

The next great event in the cardinal's life was the Crusade against the Moorish city of Oran in North Africa, in which his religious zeal was supported by Ferdinand's prospect for political and material gain. A preliminary expedition, equipped at the expense of Cisneros, 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. Cisneros returned to Spain and attempted to recover from Ferdinand the expenses of the expedition, but Ferdinand was content with taking Oran and because of his greater interest in Italy he would not support Cisneros' plans for a larger North African crusade conquest.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Reform Revolt and Crusade", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki