Archbishop of Granada
1430 – 1507
I start the epic journey of liberty with Hernando de Talavera. When the story begins, Hernando is the Archbishop of Granada, Spain, appointed to that position by the monarch Isabella II of “Fernando and Isabella” fame who sent Columbus off to discover America. Yes, the Catholic Monarchs.
Archbishop Talavera was a product of his education and experience. The Catholic Church was Talavera’s life from his earliest age. He believed in the church’s absolute authority. This belief never wavered. If there was a true good guy during the changing religious conflicts of the time, Talavera was him.
Talavera was well educated. The historical consensus is that he came from a converso family. In other words, his family were Catholic converts. This background might explain his special sensitivity toward other conversos regarding their conversion from Islam and Judaism. During his tenure as Archbishop in Granada, he instituted policies that emphasized the importance of education of Catholic doctrine. He even translated the Latin Mass into Arabic. The priests under his stewardship learned Arabic so they could teach the Moors of Granada in their own language.
His advocacy of conversion through persuasion rather than force combined with his serious misgivings about the efficacy of the Inquisition, put him in the crosshairs of the Inquisitors and the baptism-by-force officials.
Despite his exemplary life, at seventy-eight years old, officials of the Holy Office of the Spanish Inquisition arrested their own archbishop as a heretic. His principal enemy was Cardinal Cisneros, who had no leniency for those refusing baptism. Cisneros had no leniency for his competitor, the Archbishop of Granada, Hernando Talavera.
Only through a papal bull – which was a demand by Pope Julius II was Archbishop Hernando Talavera released from prison. During his more than a year in prison where he suffered intense persecution. It broke him physically. Many of his family and friends fared worse. They were executed by burning at the stake. Archbishop Hernando Talavera passed away within a month following his release. But not of course before he inspired my fictional characters on in their struggle for liberty.
