RODRIGO XIMENES DE RADA. — Cistercian, archbishop of Toledo, born at Puente la Reina (Navarra) in 1170, died at Toledo on 10 June 1247.
After studying in Paris, he returned to Castile, where he enjoyed great authority at the court of Alfonso VIII. In 1209 he was appointed archbishop of Toledo and confirmed the following year by Innocent III. He took part in the preparation of the crusade against the Almohads, which ended in the decisive victory of Las Navas de Tolosa. He was chancellor of Castile and León and tutor to the sons of Ferdinand III the saint, and promoted the construction of the Cathedral of Toledo. He was a generous patron of monasteries, especially that of Santa María de Huerta, where he was buried and to which he left his library.
He composed a Historia Gothica and a Historia Arabum. The former, written in elegant literary Latin, is important especially for the last two books, which narrate events in which Ximenes himself participated; noteworthy is the attempt at source criticism and the care taken to establish an exact chronology of events. In the Historia Arabum Ximenes demonstrated a good knowledge of Arabic sources.