Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, OFM was a Spanish cardinal, religious figure, and statesman. Starting from humble beginnings he rose to the heights of power, becoming a religious reformer, twice regent of Spain, Cardinal, Grand Inquisitor, promoter of the Crusades in North Africa, and founder of the Alcalá University. Among his intellectual accomplishments, he is best known for funding the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the first printed polyglot version of the entire Bible. He also edited and published the first printed editions of the missal and the breviary of the Mozarabic Rite, and established a chapel with a college of thirteen priests to celebrate the Mozarabic Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharist each day in the Toledo Cathedral.
Portrait by Juan de Borgoña, c. 1514
Cardinal Cisneros
The Moorish Proselytes of Archbishop Ximenes, Granada, 1500 by Edwin Long (1829–1891)
Cisneros (sitting) visits the construction of the Hospital of the Charity. Sanctuary of the Charity of Illescas (Toledo) by Alejandro Ferrant (1844–1917)
Grand Inquisitor was the lead official of the Inquisition. The title usually refers to the chief inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, even after the reunification of the inquisitions. Secretaries-general of the Roman Inquisition were often styled as Grand Inquisitor but the role and functions were different.
Tomás de Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor of Spain (1483–1498)
Diego de Deza, Grand Inquisitor of Spain (1498–1507)
Adrian of Utrecht, Grand Inquisitor of Spain (1518–1522)
Juan Pardo de Tavera, Grand Inquisitor of Spain (1539–1545)