Mendoza, Gonzales Peter De

, a cardinal, archbishop of Seville, and afterwards of Toledo, chancellor of Castille and Leon, was born at Guadalajara, in 142S, of an ancient and noble family. He made a great progress in the languages, in civil and canon law, and in the belles lettres. His uncle, Walter Alvarez, archbishop of Toledo, gave him an archdeaconry in his church, and sent him to the court of John II. king of Castille, where his merit soon, acquired him the bishopric of Calahorra. Henry IV. who succeeded John, trusted him with the most important affairs of state; and, besides the bishopric of Siguença, procured a cardinal’s hat for him from Sixtus IV. in 1473. When Henry died the year after, he named cardinal Mendoza for his executor, and dignified him at the same time with the title of the cardinal of Spain. He did great services afterwards to Ferdinand and Isabella, in the war against the king of Portugal, and in the conquest of the kingdom of Granada over the Moors. He was then made archbishop of Seville and Toledo successively; and after governing some years, in his several provinces, with great wisdom and moderation, he died Jan. 11, 1495. It is said that in his younger days he translated “Sallust,” “Homer’s Iliad,” “Virgil,” and some pieces of “Ovid.” ²