Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones

Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones
Íñigo López de Mendoza, first marquis of Mondéjar by Francisco Díaz Carreño (Museo del Prado).
Born	Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones c. 1440 Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Crown of Castile
Died	20 July July 1515 (aged 74–75) Granada, Spain
Nationality	Spanish / Castilian

Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, (1440 – 20 July 1515) was the first Marqués de Mondéjar, and second Conde de Tendilla. He was known as El Gran Tendilla, and was a Spanish noble of the House of Mendoza. He was the son of Íñigo López de Mendoza y Figueroa, the first Conde de Tendilla, and the grandson of the poet Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana.

Íñigo was born in Guadalajara, Kingdom of Castile, and was educated along with his brother, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Quiñones )(who would later become a cardinal), in the palatial house of his grandfather. He would also receive instruction in political and military matters from his father, the ambassador to Pope Pius II in the council of Mantua and from his uncle, the powerful cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza.

Succeeding his father in 1479 as Conde de Tendilla, he entered the Royal Court at Toledo in 1480 to show his loyalty to the Catholic Monarchs and offered his services for the ongoing conquest of Granada. It was in the Granada War that he first showed his military prowess. His nephew, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar y Mendoza, the son of Cardinal Pedro González de Mendoza, who educated Íñigo, served under him during this time. He was there named Alcaide de Alhama de Granada and was made, at his own expense, to defend those lands against the armies of Muley Hacén from 1484–85.