Lope de Barrientos

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Lope de Barrientos
Bishop Barrientos
Funeral portrait of Lope de Barrientos; from Museum of the Fairs in Medina del Campo
Personal details
Born	1382 Medina del Campo, León, Castile
Died	1469 (aged 86–87) Cuenca, Toledo, Castile
Nationality	Castilian
Occupation	Clergyman and statesman

Lope de Barrientos (1382–1469), sometimes called Obispo Barrientos ("Bishop Barrientos"), was a powerful clergyman and statesman of the Crown of Castile during the 15th century, although his prominence and the influence he wielded during his lifetime is not a subject of common study in Spanish history.

From relatively humble beginnings in Medina del Campo, where he studied grammar, he took advantage of a secular custom of Castilian monarchs to selectively promote lower class court nobility to the service of Ferdinand I of Aragon—a privilege normally reserved for those of high birth.

Barrientos exploited every opening to climb in social rank against the backdrop of a complex political atmosphere: he became a Dominican friar; served as a professor of theology at the University of Salamanca (possibly the first); as the bishop of three successive cities—Segovia, Ávila, and chiefly of Cuenca^[1] —as royal confessor of John II of Castile; an Inquisitor; an advisor to Henry IV of Castile; and as Chancellor of Castile. In addition, he published a series of theological treatises and tracts concerning religious problems encountered in 15th-century Spain.