Juan Rodríguez Fonseca

Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca (1451–1524) was a Spanish archbishop, a courtier and bureaucrat, whose position as royal chaplain to Queen Isabella enabled him to become a powerful counsellor to Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs. He controlled the Casa de Contratación, an agency which managed expeditions to the New World on behalf of the Spanish crown. He later served as the president of the Council of the Indies, when it was founded in 1521. He managed the administration of a number of significant Spanish expeditions including voyages by Christopher Columbus and Magellan's circumnavigation of the Earth.

Early life Rodríguez de Fonseca was born in 1451 in his family's castle in the town of Toro, in the Province of Zamora, the son of Fernando de Fonseca, lord of the towns of Coca and Alaejos, one of his three children with Teresa de Ayala, daughter of the Marquis of Cañete The family had originated in Portugal and migrated to the Kingdom of Castile a century earlier. As younger sons, he and his brother, Alonso de Fonseca y Acevedo, were destined for careers in the Church. He was the nephew of Alonso de Fonseca y Ulloa, Archbishop of Seville. In the dispute over the claim to the throne between Isabella of Castile and Joanna la Beltraneja, the family pledged their loyalty to Isabella, and helped her to ascend to the throne.

With gratitude for his services in this struggle, the young queen recommended Rodríguez de Fonseca to her confessor, the Hieronymite monk, Hernando de Talavera, to educate him in theology and the humanities.

Rodríguez de Fonseca was ordained a priest on 6 April 1493 in the bishop's palace in Barcelona. He later served as Vicar General of the archdiocese.

Rodríguez de Fonseca clashed early with Columbus who, he believed, was asserting too much independence from royal authority, and in 1499 Queen Isabella, influenced by him, removed Columbus as governor of the newly found lands overseas. Rodríguez de Fonseca then began to plan and organize a series of voyages, under such captains as Alonso de Ojeda, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón, Diego de Lepe, and Rodrigo de Bastidas, which steadily expanded new discoveries and increased understanding of the islands and mainland of what quickly became known as a New World. He was named Count of La Pernía by the monarchs. In 1513 King Ferdinand had asked the pope to elevate Rodríguez to a new title, that of Patriarch of the West Indies, a position that would bring a cardinal’s red hat. But the papacy was reluctant to create this title and the patriarchate was not created until shortly after Fonseca's death. He also clashed with Hernán Cortés, conqueror of Mexico, which led to Cortés' removal from office in 1523.

Death Rodríguez de Fonseca died in Burgos, where he was still bishop, on 4 March 1524. He was buried at the Church of Santa María la Mayor en Coca in Segovia, where his tomb still exists.