PARD0 DE TAVERA, JUAN. — Political figure and cardinal, born at Toro (Zamora) on 16 May 1472, died at Toledo on 10 Aug. 1545; he studied at Salamanca and was elected, in 1504, rector of that University; he was later auditor of the Council of the Inquisition and vicar general of the archbishop of Seville.
In 1513 he was entrusted with reorganizing the Chancellery of Valladolid; on 14 July 1514 he was given the bishopric of Ciudad Rodrigo and was sent for some time to the court of Lisbon. On 31 Dec. 1523 he was given the bishopric of Osma, then, on 8 June 1524, the metropolitan see of Compostela. He was also president of the Chancellery of Valladolid and of the Council of Castile. In 1525 he presided over the Cortes of Toledo, which were attended by representatives of almost all the sovereigns of Europe and of the Pope; he was also prepositus of the Cortes of Madrid, in 1528, on the occasion of the oath sworn by the future Philip II, regent of Spain in the absence of his father. On 22 Feb. 1531, P. was named cardinal of S. Giovanni a Porta Latina and on 27 Apr. 1534 archbishop of Toledo; in 1539 inquisitor general of the Kingdom and governor of Castile and León.