Jiménez de Rada, Rodrigo, aproximadamente 1170-1247

"Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada o El Toledano (Puente la Reina, Navarra, ca. 1170-Vienne, 10 de junio de 1247) fue un eclesiástico, militar, historiador y hombre de estado navarro-castellano. Arzobispo de Toledo durante casi cuarenta años, consiguió la Primacía de esta sede y fundó su actual catedral sobre la antigua mezquita; sirvió como consejero y diplomático del rey de Navarra Sancho VII y de los castellanos Alfonso VIII y Fernando III, de quien fue canciller; organizó la cruzada cristiana contra los almohades de al-Ándalus, dirigiendo personalmente varias campañas de la guerra de Reconquista, entre ellas la de Las Navas de Tolosa; ganó, por donación o conquista militar, numerosos señoríos en todo el territorio castellano, el principal de ellos el adelantamiento de Cazorla; sobresalió en los concilios de Letrán y Lyon. Erudito y políglota, fue también autor de una crónica titulada De rebus Hispaniae, también conocida como Historia gótica o Crónica del toledano, en la que se describe la historia de España desde sus orígenes hasta 1243."

"Rodrigo Jiménez (or Ximénez) de Rada (c. 1170 in Puente la Reina, Navarre, Spain - 10 June 1247 on the Rhone, near Lyons, France), also known as Archbishop Don Roderic of Toledo, was a Navarrese-born Castilian Roman Catholic bishop and historian. He was born from a Navarrese noble family and was educated by his uncle, Martín de la Finojosa, abbot of Saint Mary of Huerta and bishop of Sigüenza. He studied Law and Theology in the Universities of Bologna and Paris. When he returned to Navarre he mediated between that kingdom and Castile and he became friend of King Alfonso VIII of Castile, who nominated him as bishop of Osma and later put pressure on the chapter of Toledo to elect him as archbishop of Toledo. His election as archbishop of Toledo was confirmed by Pope Innocent III on 12 February 1209. In addition, Alfonso VIII appointed him as major chancellor of Castile. He played a key role in the war against the Almohads and at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212). He was the moral leader of that war, which was considered in Europe as a crusade in which many European knights took part. He sent afterwards missionaries to Morocco. His archbishopric gained a lot of possessions throughout the Guadalquivir valley, especially around Quesada and received further generous donations from kings and lords. As archbishop of Toledo, he promoted the building of the cathedral and placed the first stone in 1226 (it was not completed until 1493), restored the dioceses of Baeza and Córdoba after the Christian conquest of those cities and defended the primacy of his see in Spain against the pretensions of Braga and Santiago. He promoted the cultural life of Toledo, a city that was the cultural entrepôt of Christian and Muslim civilizations during the Middle Ages. He ordered the translation of the Koran to Latin and composed a wide historiographic work. His De rebus Hispaniae, a general history of Spain, was very soon translated into Spanish and was very influential on the General History of Alfonso X. He died near Lyons while returning from a visit to the pope, and is interred in the monastery of Saint Mary of Huerta."