Contrary to the prevailing belief, the Reformation did not entirely bypass Spain, although its progress there was uncertain, its demise swift and so thoroughly effected that it left little abiding monument. The claim is often made that the reforms of the Spanish Church instituted by Cardinal Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros around the turn of the century made unnecessary, even impossible, any movement of Protestant reform in the country. It is therefore worth emphasising that, while these measures did to some extent sharpen morals, deepen piety and strengthen ecclesiastical discipline, they left untouched the structure of the church and its doctrines, which were two main preoccupations of the reformers. Indeed, to some extent, Cisneros' provision of devotional literature may well have contributed to producing a climate favourable to Protestant ideas. And, however successful his reforms, they still left room in the country for a ready response to Erasmian satire against hypocrisy and low standards amongst secular and regular clergy, particularly the mendicant orders. Although in retrospect the ecclesiastical situation in Spain at the beginning of the Reformation may seem to have been untroubled and static, it needs to be borne in mind that the country was not cut off from the cross-currents of religious ideas in Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century, and the assertion that there was no demand at all for a reform of the Protestant kind is made without reference to the ruthless operation of the Inquisition.