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Diego de Espinosa
Diego de Espinosa Arévalo | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal-Priest of S. Esteban en Monte Celio | |
| In office 1568–1572 | |
| Preceded by | Girolamo da Correggio |
| Succeeded by | Zaccaria Delfino |
| President of the Council of Castile | |
| In office 1565–1572 | |
| Preceded by | Juan Rodríguez de Figueroa |
| Succeeded by | Diego de Covarrubias |
| Inquisitor General of Spain | |
| In office 1567–1572 | |
| Preceded by | Fernando Valdés Salas |
| Succeeded by | Gaspar de Quiroga y Vela |
| Bishop of Sigüenza | |
| In office 1568–1572 | |
| Preceded by | Pedro de la Gasca |
| Succeeded by | Juan Manuel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 1513 |
| Died | 5 September 1572 (aged 58–59) |
| Ordination | 1564 |
| Created cardinal | 24 March 1568 |
| Created cardinal by | Saint Pius V |
Diego de Espinosa Arévalo (Martín Muñoz de las Posadas, September 1513 – Madrid, 5 September 1572) was a Spanish cardinal who held the offices of President of the Council of Castile and Inquisitor General during the reign of Philip II.
Biography
His parents were Diego González de Espinosa and Catalina de Arévalo, of a noble and wealthy family in Martín Muñoz de las Posadas, which at that time belonged to the Diocese of Ávila. He earned, with great distinction, the degree of licentiate in Civil law and Canon law at the University of Salamanca. But these were not the only titles he obtained over the course of his life; there was a long list of them: judge of appeals in the archiepiscopal curia of Zaragoza, vicar general of the Diocese of Sigüenza (Guadalajara), oidor in the Real Audiencia and Chancillería of Valladolid, oidor in the Casa de Contratación of Seville, regent in the Royal Council of Navarre, councilor in the Supreme and Royal Council of Castile (at the age of 49, in 1562), President of the Supreme and Royal Council of Castile at the wish of Philip II in 1565, and Inquisitor General in December 1566 (nominated in September).
In 1564 he received holy orders. In the following years he prepared the Pragmatic Sanction of 1567 to suppress the culture and traditions of the Moriscos of Granada. In 1567 the problems of the Spanish Empire grew acute, above all in Flanders, to such an extent that King Philip II decided to resolve them personally in situ. During his absence he chose Father Espinosa, a man he trusted, as Regent, but beforehand he requested the cardinal's hat for him in order to give him greater rank and dignity. Pope Pius V granted it, and the appointment reached him on 24 March 1568 as Cardinal-Priest of S. Esteban del Monte Celio.
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In 1568, Cardinal Espinosa was appointed Bishop of Sigüenza, one of the most important and wealthy sees in Spain. Shortly afterward, he was chosen as a member of the council that had been formed for the trial of Prince Carlos, the King's son. Philip II held him in such esteem and regard that a year later he ordered the purchase for Espinosa of some place to establish his house with the title of marquis (at the King's own expense). Cardinal Espinosa accepted neither the purchase nor the title, but in exchange he made a request that was granted to him: the establishment of a free fair in the Villa of Martín Muñoz de las Posadas. The grant was for a market one day a week, on Mondays, and for a fair one week a year, in September. As for the house offered, his reply was that it seemed very wrong to him that exemplary ministers should build palaces, which troubled the conscience of all who passed by and gave rise to the loose talk of the court. But as the King insisted, he agreed to build a modest palace on condition that the royal coat of arms be placed on the facade, in order thus to show that the building was raised by order of Philip II. This building is still preserved in the Plaza Mayor of the town and serves as a school.
When Cardinal Espinosa reached the age of 59, he contracted an illness that brought him to his death very quickly, on 5 September 1572 at 10 in the morning. He was buried in a chapel that he himself had founded a year earlier at his own expense, in the town church, in a mausoleum with a magnificent praying sculpture of the cardinal in marble and alabaster made by Pompeo Leoni.
He was a very upright man, and for that very reason he made quite a few political enemies over the course of his life. But Philip II always esteemed him, and it is recorded that he said of him: I have a Minister cut to the measure of my desire and of the universal benefit of my subjects... and just before dying he said to his children: Here lies buried the best of my Ministers...
External links
- Catholic Hierarchy
- Toribio Minguella: Historia de la diócesis de Sigüenza y de sus obispos, vol. II, pp. 263–271. (in Spanish)
- José Antonio Escudero: Notas sobre la carrera del inquisidor general Diego de Espinosa, Revista de la Inquisición, 2001, 10: 7-16 (in Spanish) [dead link]
- Ezequiel Borgognoni: Confesionalismo, gobierno y privanza. El Cardenal Diego de Espinosa (1565-1572), Chronica Nova, 2017, 43: 169-186 (in Spanish)
