Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/399

375 I MONASTIC REFORMS. 375 rassed a condition, as to require his immediate chapter presence 12 Before liis return, Ximenes obtained a papal bull, "is ret...,. ' r r ' and itnjins or expedative, preferring him to the first benefice of ''""'^"'• a specified value, which should become vacant in the see of Toledo. Several years elapsed before such a vacancy offered itself by the death of the archpriest of Uzeda ; and Ximenes took possession 1473 of that living by virtue of the apostolic grant. This assumption of the papal court to dispose of the church livings at its own pleasure, had been long regarded by the Spaniards as a flagrant im- position ; and Carillo, the archbishop of Toledo, in whose diocese the vacancy occurred, was not likely tamely to submit to it. He had, moreover, promised this very place to one of his own fol- lowers. He determined, accordingly, to compel Ximenes to surrender his pretensions in favor of the latter, and, finding argument ineffectual, resort- ed to force, confining him in the fortress of Uzeda, whence he was subsequently removed to the strong tower of Santorcaz, then used as a prison for con- tumacious ecclesiastics. But Carillo understood little of the temper of Ximenes, which was too inflexible to be broken by persecution. The arch- bishop in time became convinced of this, and was persuaded to release him, but not till after an im- prisonment of more than six years." 12 Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, fol. menez deCisneros, (Toledo, 1604,) 2. — Idem, Miscellanear., MS., ubi cap. 11. supra. — Eugenio de Robles, Com- '^ Quintanilla, Archetypo,pp. 8, pendio de la Vida y Hazanas del 10. — Gomez, De Rebus Gestis, Cardenal Don Fray Francisco Xi- fol. 2. — F16chier, Hist, de Xime-