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 King

Charles I of Spain Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

, who was elected as

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

in and reigned as

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * 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 Others * Charles V, Duke ...

from 1519.

Biographical data

He was born in

Úbeda Úbeda () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain located in the Province of Jaén (Spain), province of Jaén, Andalusia. The town lies on the southern ridge of the so-called Loma de Úbeda, a Table (landform), table sandwiched in bet ...

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 and María de Sarmiento, 6th Countess of Ribadavia. 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, on 18 February 1543. He was buried in the Sacra Capilla del Salvador in

in the Province of Jaén. His daughter, Maria Sarmiento de Mendoza, married at Valladolid on 30 November 1538, Gonzalo II Fernández de Córdoba,

Governor of the Duchy of Milan The governor of Milan was a political and military office of the Duchy of Milan, the title of the representatives of the foreign sovereigns who held dominion over the Milanese area, substantially from the 16th century until the Unification of It ...

, 1558–1560 and 1563–1564, a Knight of the

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

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, Valencia (autonomous community), autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. The former Palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli now houses the city's mayor. Segorbe's bull-running ...

, 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 Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...

. 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 Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, 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 with traveling to Habsburg-ruled

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-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 culture, la ...

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. 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 Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

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 (; – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerism, Mannerist periods, famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian School (art), Venetian scho ...

and a series of paintings from the City council of

Lucca Città di 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 of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

. 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 civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

s and Incas. He is known to have given a now lost Aztec manuscript bound in jaguar skin to the historian Paolo Giovio in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

.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 ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

architecture found in the town center of

. The Royal Palace of Valladolid 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.

Biographical data

Career in government

Patronage of the arts

See also

References

Further reading