Melchor Cano

Melchor Cano was born in Tarancón (New Castile); in 1523 he entered the Dominican order in Salamanca, where he was taught by Francisco de Vitoria.

At the university the schools were divided between the partisans of the two professors; Cano pursued his rival with relentless virulence, and took part in the condemnation for heresy of his brother-friar.

His personal influence with King Philip II of Spain soon brought about his recall, and he was made provincial of his order in Castile.

In 1556 he wrote his famous Consultatio theologica, in which he advised the king to resist the temporal encroachments of the papacy and, as absolute monarch, to defend his rights by bringing about a radical change in the administration of ecclesiastical revenues, thus making Spain less dependent on Rome.

The reputation of Cano rests on a posthumous work, De Locis theologicis (Salamanca, 1562), unrivalled in its own line.