Other educational institutions were also founded in this reign at Siguenza, Valladolid, Toledo, Santiago, and Avila; mainly through the enterprise of wealthy Churchmen; the College of Santa Cruz at Valladolid, like Alcalá de Henares, owing its origin to an Archbishop of Toledo, though to Ximenes’s predecessor, Cardinal Mendoza. Well-endowed professorships and the report of the growing enthusiasm in Spain for classical knowledge drew scholars of repute from Italy, some by direct invitation to lecture and teach, others in the train of nobles anxious by their patronage to display their literary taste. The Lombard, Peter Martyr of Anghiera, whose name we have so often mentioned, accompanied the Count of Tendilla on his return from an embassy at Rome, and was at once requested by the Queen to open a school for the young Castilian aristocracy, which was prone, in his own words, “to regard the pursuit of letters as a hindrance to the profession of arms that it alone thought worthy of consideration.” [Illustration: COINS, CATHOLIC KINGS FROM LAFUENTE’S “HISTORIA GENERAL DE ESPAÑA,” VOL. VII. ] Martyr preferred to follow the fortunes of the Christian army in Granada to their conclusion, probably judging that until the Cross had triumphed he would receive little attention; but on the establishment of peace he began to lecture in Salamanca, the oldest university in Spain, “Mother of the Liberal Arts,” as Lucio Marineo fondly called her. He also opened schools in Valladolid, Saragossa, and other important cities. The young Duke of Villahermosa, Ferdinand’s nephew, and the Duke of Guimaraens, Isabel’s cousin, set an example by their attendance to other youths of high birth, till Peter Martyr’s house was thronged with students, convinced that classical and philosophical knowledge would enhance their military laurels rather than detract from them. Martyr’s own Latin style, as shown in his copious letters to illustrious contemporaries, and in his account of the New World, was for the most part crude; but what it lacked in elegance was counterbalanced by vigour and the accuracy and insight of his information. He is thus a valuable authority for Isabel’s reign, like his fellow-countryman the Sicilian Lucio Marineo, whose encyclopedic work _De Memorabilibus Hispaniæ_ throws considerable light on the Spanish history of his day. Marineo was introduced to the Castilian Court in 1484 by the Admiral, Don Fadrique Enriquez, and from that date till 1496 held the post of Professor of Latin Poetry and Eloquence in the University of Salamanca. So great was the enthusiasm inspired by his lectures that they were attended not only by the ordinary student but by archbishops and bishops, and many of the leading nobles and ladies of the Court.