A like spirit of unfaltering sternness was exhibited by Ximenes in connection with the conversion of the floors. Talavera, archbishop of Granada, was distin- guished for liberality of view and for zealous interest in the peaceful conversion of the Moors; but Ximenes,
XIMENES
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acting as the leader of the fanatical party, insisted npon more eneriijetic measures. He attempted, indeed, at first to convince the Moorish scholars by way of ari^u- ment and also by donations, and so successfully that lie ■was able to baptize three thousand Saracens on a single occasion ; but when he encountered opposition, his vio- lent spirit asserted itself. He disregarded all pledges, burned all Arabic books he could seize, though he saved three hundred medical works for his University of Al- cala, and irritated the Mohammedans beyond endur- ance and until they rebelled. Talavera and others per- suaded them to lay down their arms; but the revolt was punished, nevertheless, by a revocation of all pledges previously given them, and by compelling them to choose between conversion or banishment. About fifty thousand Moslems submitted to- baptism on these terms, and all the land was astonished at the ability with which Ximenes had been able to convert a hostile people to Christianity in so short a time. The charac- ter of the conversions will appear most clearh' in the light of the fact that Ximenes rabidly opposed the pub- lication of even fragmentary portions of the Scriptures or of expositions of the mass in the Moorish language. He insisted that the Scriptures should be preserved within the three languages in which, by the order of God, the inscriptions at the head of Christ's cross were written, urging that the common people despise what they understand, but venerate what is hidden from them and beyond their reach, and that wicked persons would bring the Catholic Church low whenever the Bible should be spread among the people in a form in- telligible to them.
In other respects the work of Ximenes was often beneficial to the world, e. g. when he protected the poor and discharged unworthy officials, and when he remod- elled the financial s\-stem of Castile, whose grand-chan- cellor he was, so that taxation became at once more tolerable to the subject and more remunerative to the State. He was the faithful spiritual adviser of the queen while she lived, and after her death secured to Ferdinand the government of Castile, a favor which was rewarded by the bestowal upon him of a cardinal's hat and of the post of general-inquisitor (1507). He had already begun the erection of buildings for the University of Alcala in 1498, which were completed ten years later, and had given to it a faculty of forty-two professors, the ablest men to be found, and set apart four- teen thousand ducats for its annual support. His great- est literary undertaking was the Cornplutensian Polyr/lot, begun in 1502 by the accumulation of available manu- scripts. The Qld-Test. portion of the materials upon which that work was based have recently been trans- ferred to the University of Madrid (see Tregelles, A c- count [1854], p. i2-18).' The Polyglot (in 6 vols.) was finished in 1517. See Polyglot Bibles. Ximenes was also engaged in the preparation of an edition of the works of Aristotle, which was interrupted by his death, and he labored for the preservation of the Mozar- abic liturgy.
Ximenes was not possessed of uncommon learning, and his instincts were rather those of a soldier than a scholar. He wished to renew the Crusades, and actu- ally did bring about the capture of the piratical harbor of Mozarquivir and of the town of Oran, being person-
ally present at the storming of the latter place. He has been credited with having originated the Inquisi- tion in Castile, and charged, on the other hand, with having opposed its rule. Both statements are, how- ever, erroneous. He came to the court twelve years after the Inquisition was introduced, and he protected Talavera, archbishop of Granada, against the charge of heresy by appealing the case from the Inquisition to the pope. As grand-inquisitor he issued instructions to enable new converts to protect themselves against the suspicion of relapse, and even provided for their education in Christian knowledge. He also restricted the authority of subordinate inquisitors. On the oth- er hand, he refused to allow causes before the tribunal of the Inquisition to be tried in public, and in general showed himself to be in thorough harmony with the spirit of that institution. A moderate estimate fixes the ntnnber of persons burned at the stake during the ten years of his supreme administration at above two thousand. He also erected a new tribunal of the In- quisition and transplanted the Inquisition itself to Oran, the Canary Isles, and America.
He was unable to attend theLateran Synod held un- der Leo X, but counselled the pope by letter, and pro- mulgated the decisions of the synod before its members had dispersed. He also endorsed Leo's plan for improv- ing the Juliai^ calendar. But he did not, on the oth- er hand, hesitate to condemn the sale of indulgences as involving an enervation of the discipline of the Church and a dangerous liberality. When king Ferdi- nand died (1516), Ximenes was made regent of Castile until Charles (V) should reach his majority, a position which he filled during twenty months with great abil- ity. He preserved for the crown, against the opposi- tion of the nobility, the grand-mastership of the order of San lago di Compostella; transferred the seat of government to Madrid ; had Charles proclaimed king over the votes of the assembled council ; restrained the nobles by organizing an armed militia throughout all Spain, and deprived them of a portion of the propertj' they had acquired by violence or fraud. With this money he paid all debts incurred by Ferdinand and Is- abella, strengthened the army and navy, erected forti- fications and established arsenals, and supplied the mer- cenary greed of the court with funds. He took meas- ures to improve the condition of the natives of Amer- ica, and appointed Las Casas to be protector over the American colonies. The introduction of African sla- very into the colonies, which was pro]if>sed bj' some, was positively forbidden by him. On the return of Charles to Spain, he found Ximenes dying. The end came Nov. 8, 1517.