Military Castilian conquest & the Moriscos1492–1610

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba

Lived 1453–1515 (about 62 years)

Also known as: Gran Capitán, Great Captain

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, known as the Gran Capitán or Great Captain, was born in Montilla in 1453 and entered court at twelve as a page to the infante Alfonso. The Catholic Monarchs later sent him on embassies to negotiate with Boabdil, the last sultan of Granada. His Arabic and his familiarity with Boabdil led to his being chosen as one of the officers who arranged the surrender of Granada in 1492, and his services in the campaign were rewarded with the encomienda of the Order of Santiago. He died of malaria on 2 December 1515 at his villa near Granada, aged 62.

Granada holds his trace in two places. He is buried at the transept of the Monasterio de San Jerónimo, next to his wife, María de Manrique. At the Cartuja, the land he ceded was in the end not the site where the monastery was built.

Places to see

Basilica of San Juan de Dios

Monasterio de la Cartuja

Interior of San Jerónimo Monastery with its gilded Renaissance altarpiece in Granada

Monastery of San Jerónimo

Monasterio de San Jerónimo

Interior of Granada Cathedral showing Diego de Siloé's Renaissance arches and the circular Capilla Mayor with gold stars on blue dome

Granada Baroque & Renaissance Architecture Walk

In their time

Castilian conquest & the Moriscos

1492–1610
Boabdil handed Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella on 2 January 1492, after a siege whose camp became the town of Santa Fe. Enrique Egas drew a Gothic plan for the cathedral in 1518 and building began in 1523. Diego de Siloé, master builder from 1529, changed it into Spain's first fully Renaissance cathedral, with a circular capilla mayor.
1. Monastery of San Jerónimo
  
  1504 Monument
  
  San Jerónimo holds the tomb of the Great Captain in a Renaissance church completed in 1522, with a carved altarpiece and gilded ceilings of exceptional quality.
2. Royal Chapel of Granada
  
  1504 Monument
  
  Isabelline Gothic chapel with the tombs of Isabella I and Ferdinand II. The sacristy holds royal regalia and paintings by Memling, Botticelli, and Bouts.
3. Monasterio de la Cartuja
  
  1516 Monument
  
  Founded in 1516 by El Gran Capitán, La Cartuja's sacristy is one of Spain's most ornate Baroque spaces — marble inlay, gilded altars, and near-total silence.
4. Granada Cathedral
  
  1523 Monument
  
  Granada Cathedral in Spain took 181 years to build from 1523, blending Gothic foundations with a Renaissance interior of five naves and a gilded dome chapel.
5. Mirador de San Nicolás
  
  1525 Monument
  
  Free 24-hour viewpoint in the Albaicín with unobstructed Alhambra views and the Sierra Nevada as backdrop. Crowds peak at sunset; early morning is far quieter.
6. Hernando de Talavera
  
  c. 1430–1507 Historical figure
  
  Hernando de Talavera, Isabella's confessor, became Granada's first archbishop in 1493. He learned Arabic himself and encouraged his clergy to do the same.
7. Count of Tendilla
  
  c. 1440–1515 Historical figure
  
  Íñigo López de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, governed the Alhambra from 1492 and died in 1515. Find his trace on the Alhambra hill and what to read next.
8. Isabella I
  
  1451–1504 Historical figure
  
  Isabella I of Castile, queen 1474–1504, chose Granada for her tomb in 1504. Her life in brief and where her trace survives in the Royal Chapel and the city.
9. Ferdinand II of Aragon
  
  1452–1516 Historical figure
  
  Ferdinand II of Aragon co-ruled with Queen Isabella through the Granada War, which ended on 2 January 1492, and is buried in the Royal Chapel of Granada.
10. Pedro Machuca
  
  c. 1490–1550 Historical figure
  
  Pedro Machuca, the Toledo-born architect and painter who designed the Palace of Charles V in the Alhambra from 1527. Where to see his work around Granada.
Go deeper
- Conquest and Moriscos