“With formidable industry the author ransacked the papers of fully two dozen European archives and many printed works to narrate the career of an ambitious poor boy from the Andalucian hilltop town of Úbeda. . . .A superbly documented, soundly written biography of Cobos presented with sympathy and imagination. Cobos is not soon likely to find a better biographer.”
—Hispanic American Historical Review

“The reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella and their grandson, Charles V, were periods of dramatic and profound change for Spain in which national unity led quickly to a spectacular role in the affairs of Europe. . . . This meticulously documented biography is a useful contribution. The portrait of Cobos, the man, is well rounded and sound. There is a wealth of insights into the origins of the Spanish bureaucratic state whose foundation was laid during his lifetime and in which Francisco de los Cobos himself participated in a not insignificant fashion.”
—Speculum

“[This book] is an important one in the sadly undercultivated field of Spanish history, and probably no more excellent book could be written on this topic.”
—Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science