CARVAJAL, JUAN de. - Cardinal, b. at Trujillo in Estremadura around 1400, d. at Rome on 6 Dec. 1469. As auditor of the Apostolic Camera, he was charged by Eugenio IV with negotiating with Emperor Federico III and the German princes in order to withdraw them from the neutrality between the Pope and the Council of Basel which they had proclaimed. To this end he took part in the Diets of Mainz (Feb. 1441) and Frankfurt (May–July 1442), and, together with Tommaso Parentucelli, in the other Diet of Frankfurt in Sept.–Oct. 1446, succeeding in preparing a rapprochement between Germany and the Pope.
Appointed bishop of Plasencia in Spain on 10 Aug. 1446, he was created cardinal on 16 Dec., together with Parentucelli, and received the red hat with him on 23 Dec., shortly after returning to Rome. He set out again for Germany as legate on 15 Sept. 1447 to complete the work of religious pacification, which was concluded with the Concordat of Vienna (17 Feb. 1448).
Another legation to Hungary was carried out by C. from 25 Sept. 1455 to 30 Sept. 1461, in order to support that nation in its struggle against the Turk; St. Giovanni da Capistrano was his companion in II.
For the same reason he was legate to Venice from 30 July 1466 to 17 Sept. 1467. He had been bishop of Porto since 26 Oct. 1461 and chamberlain of the Sacred College since 11 Jan. 1469, when he died, leaving a reputation as a most able diplomat and an austere ecclesiastic; among other things, he had shown himself zealous in the struggle against the Hussites.