Education
University of Paris.
archbishop Catholic priest cardinal-bishop
University of Paris.
He was Bishop of Cuenca (1272) and Burgos (1275) and Archbishop of Toledo (1280), the first official Primate of Spain (1285) and finally Cardinal-bishop of Albano (1298) at the curia Romana. His early career was that of an international scholar, before he settled into royal service. In 1260 he became the rector of the University of Padua.
After a sojourn in Rome, he returned to Castile to become a first a canon of the Cathedral of Burgos and then the dean of the chapter at the Cathedral of Toledo.
In 1272, Gonzalo was elected Bishop of Cuenca. During this period he served the king at times as a notary public.
In 1274 he received a gift from the king, and the charter was written up by Ferrand Martínez. On 27 September 1275 he was translated to the see of Burgos (vacant since 1269), and in May 1280 to the archdiocese of Toledo, the most important bishopric in Castile.
In 1285 he was recognised as the primate of Spain (primas Hispaniae).
Under Sancho IV, Gonzalo was "great chancellor in all our realms" (chanceller mayor en todos nuestros regnos) and Ferrand Martínez his scribe, but with the king"s death in 1295 the archbishop"s influence decreased. In the cortes held at Valladolid in the summer of that year, it was declared that ecclesiastical control of the chancery should cease. Chancery notaries should be laymen (legos).
In the consistory of 4 December 1298 Pope Boniface VIII appointed him to the cardinal-bishopric of Albano.
The return trip with the cardinal"s body was extremely leisurely, making its way through Logroño to Burgos, where the corpse was received by King Ferdinand IV and his court, including Henry the Senator, Diego López V de Haro and Bishop Pedro Rodríguez of Burgos. This was probably between March and May 1301.
The story of Gonzalo"s relics is told in the prologue of the near-contemporary chivalric novel Libro del caballero Zifar, possibly written by Ferrand Martínez.