XIMENES, DE CISNEROS FRANCISCO. This distinguished cardinal and primate of Spain, to whom Biblical literature is indebted for the first Polyglott, was born in 1436 at the little town of Tordelaguna, of an ancient but decayed Castilian family, who originally lived at Cisneros, whence the cardinal derived the name de Cisneros. Being in straitened circumstances his parents destined him for the church from his very youth, and accord ingly gave him an excellent rudimentary education in the ancient languages at Alcala. At the age of fourteen (145o) he was sent to the university of Salamanca, where he devoted himself most assidu ously to the study of the civil and canon law, and received in 1456 the degree of bachelor in both these departments. Three years after he left the university (146o) he went to Rome, where he prac tised the law for six years, and from which place he was suddenly called to his native country (1467) by the death of his father. Before his return, however. he obtained a papal bull or expeciative, preferring- him to the first benefice of a specified value which should become vacant in the see of Toledo. For this he had to wait several years, and when a vacancy at last offered itself, at the death of the arch-priest of Uzeda (1473), and Ximenes took possession of it, Archbishop Carllio threw him into prison, where he was detained six years. When restored to freedom and placed in possession of his benefice, he effected an exchange for the chaplainship of Siguenza (1480), in order to escape the jurisdiction of the vindictive archbishop. In this new position he prosecuted with the utmost diligence the study of theology, as well as of the Hebrew and Chaldee languages, which afterwards proved of the greatest service to him when editing the Polyglott. His extraordinary qualities had now become so famous that Mendoza, who was at that time bishop of Siguenza, appointed bim vicar. In the midst of his brilliant career he entered (1483) the noviciate to the Observantines of the Franciscan order in the convent of San Juan de los Reyes at Toledo, when he excha.nged his baptismal name Gonzalo for Francisco. After a few years sojourn in it, he quitted this convent to become a hermit in the convent of Our Lady of Castaiiar, so called from a deep forest of chestnuts in which it was embosomed. In the midst of these
dark mountain solitudes he built with his own hands a little hermitage, in which Ile passed three years in prayer and meditation, and which Ile only left because his superiors appointed him guardian of the convent of Salzeda. Upon the recommenda tion of Mendoza, now cardinal and archbishop of Toledo, he was appointed confessor to Queen Isabella in 1492 ; in 1494 he was elected provincial of his order in Castile ; and in 1495, on the death of Mendoza, was promoted to the archbishopric of Toledo, and with it became High Chancellor of Castile. Passing by his political adventures ana martial exploits as foreign to the scope of the bio graphical notices in this Cyclopmdia, we shall only detail Ximenes' efforts to promote Biblical studies and sacred literature. As the most praiseworthy undertaking in this department, which ultimately led to the publication of the celebrated Compluten sian Polyglott, is his founding the university at Alcala de Henares = the Roman Comjs/utum, whence the Polyglott derives the appellation Com plutensian. The site for this abode of learning he selected himself in 149S, and in rsoo he laid the foundation-stone of the college of San Ildefonso. Adjoining to this principal college he had erected nine other colleges, as well as a hospital for the sick of the university, and the whole pile of build ings was completed in 150S under his own superin tendence. With the aid of his learned friends he appointed forty-two professors, and the first lecture was delivered in the university in August 15oS. He assigned for its support 14,000 ducats a-year. Having thus completed his scheme for the educa tion of the people at large, Ximenes now applied. himself to carrying into effect his projected Poly glott, which wa.s to supply the spiritual guides of the people with the originals of the sacred Scriptures, being the source whence these teachers derive the instruction they impart to those intrusted to their care. To this end he began to collect materials for the Polyglott in 15°2, shortly after laying the fonndation-stone of the other projected structure of learning, and the work was completed in 1517. The stupendous 'character of this magnificent Bible may be seen from the following analysis of the con tents of the six splendid volumes.