Francisco de los Cobos y Molina (c. 1477 – 10 May 1547) was the secretary of State and '' Comendador'' for the kingdom of Castile under the rule of the Emperor

Charles I of Spain Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...

Biographical data

He was born in

Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...

ca. 1477 and died on 10 May 1547 in the same city. He was born to the aristocratic, though economically disadvantaged family of Don Pedro Rodríguez de los Cobos, he was the son of don Diego de los Cobos, regent of Ubeda, and Catalina de Molina. In 1522, he married the fourteen-year-old María de Mendoza y Sarmiento, daughter of Juan Hurtado de Mendoza y María de Sarmiento, 6th Countess of

Ribadavia Ribadavia is a town and municipality located in the southwest of the province of Ourense, autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. The urban area lies on the right bank of the Miño river and the last course of the Avia river. It is the capital ...

. His titles would be inherited by his only son Diego de los Cobos y Hurtado de Mendoza, (circa 1523 – 1575), who was subsequently awarded the title of 1st Marquis of Camarasa, together with his wife, by King Charles I of Spain, a.k.a. Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

on 18 February 1543. His daughter, Maria Sarmiento de Mendoza, married at Valladolid on 30 November 1538, Gonzalo II Fernández de Córdoba, Governor of the Duchy of Milan, 1558–1560 and 1563–1564, a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1555. They had no children. In 2008, this title was held by the duke of

Segorbe Segorbe is a municipality in the mountainous coastal province of Castelló, autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. The former Palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli now houses the city's mayor. Segorbe's bull-running week (''semana de Toros'') in ...

, Ignacio Medina Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Henestrosa.

Career in government

His career benefited from the help afforded by his uncle, Diego Vela Allide, treasurer and secretary of queen Isabella I of Castile. Later, by 1503, he worked as a scribe under the dean of the Queen's secretaries, Hernando de Zafra. In 1507, upon Zafra's death, he became first Treasurer of Granada, and then ''Regent'' for Úbeda the next year. These positions were entitled to collect tribute and payments to the crown. After the death of king Ferdinand of Aragon in 1516, Cobos was charged by

Cardinal Cisneros Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **'' Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, t ...

with traveling to Habsburg-ruled

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

to become a counselor for the young new monarch,

. This proved to be the crucial decision of his career, as through the favor of William II de Croÿ, Lord of Chièvres, he became secretary to the king. He advised Charles on matters that dealt with the Spanish portion of his domains, and emerged as a rival to Grand Chancellor

Mercurino Gattinara Mercurino Arborio, marchese di Gattinara (10 June 1465 – 5 June 1530), was an Italian statesman and jurist best known as the chancellor of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He was made cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church for San Giovanni ...

. Gattinara's fall in 1528 confirmed Cobos's victory, and led to his assumption of the leadership of the council of State. After traveling with Charles from 1529 until 1533, Cobos's expertise in financial matters kept him in Spain, where he served as the effective head of government until his death.

Patronage of the arts

Cobos was able to amass vast riches in his work with the state. He was able to use some of his riches in fostering patronage and acquiring art. He met

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

and arranged for Emperor Charles V's portrait by the famed Venetian artist. One sad note was the loss during a shipwreck of a large assembly of Italian works, including a ''Pietá'' by

Sebastiano del Piombo Sebastiano del Piombo (; c. 1485 – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerist periods famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian school in which he was trained ...

and a series of paintings from the City council of

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

. Additionally, he was able to collect portraits of royalty and nobility, as well as exotic gifts brought to Spain after the conquest of the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

s and

Incas The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

. He is known to have given a now lost Aztec manuscript bound in jaguar skin to the historian

Paolo Giovio Paolo Giovio (also spelled ''Paulo Jovio''; Latin: ''Paulus Jovius''; 19 April 1483 – 11 December 1552) was an Italian physician, historian, biographer, and prelate. Early life Little is known about Giovio's youth. He was a native of Com ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

.Davide Domenici and Laura Laurencich Minelli
"Domingo de Betanzos' Gifts to Pope Clement VII in 1532–1533: Tracking the Early History of Some Mexican Objects and Codices in Italy"
''Estudios de cultura nahuatl'' 47.1 (2014): 169–209. His patronage also led to the Italianate

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

architecture found in the town center of

. The

Royal Palace of Valladolid The Royal Palace of Valladolid was the official residence of the Kings of Spain during the period in which the Royal Court had its seat in Valladolid between 1601 and 1606, and a temporary residence of the Spanish Monarchs from Charles I to Isa ...

was built by Cobos, who built it around a magnificent renaissance-styled courtyard nearby the residence of his in-laws (Palace of the Counts of Ribadavia). The palace later became the temporary residence of the Spanish Monarch from King Charles I of Spain to

Queen Isabella II of Spain Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

Biographical data

Career in government

Patronage of the arts

References

Further reading