Editing Ferdinand III of Castile (section)

== Domestic policy ==

On the domestic front, Ferdinand strengthened the [[University of Salamanca]] and erected the current [[Burgos Cathedral|Cathedral of Burgos]]. He was a patron of the newest movement in the Church, that of the [[mendicant Orders]]. Whereas the [[Order of St. Benedict|Benedictine]] [[monk]]s, and then the [[Cistercian]]s and [[Cluniac]]s, had taken a major part in the ''Reconquista'' up until then, Ferdinand founded houses for [[friar]]s of the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]], [[Franciscan]], [[Trinitarian Order|Trinitarian]], and [[Mercedarian]] Orders throughout Andalusia, thus determining the future religious character of that region. Ferdinand has also been credited with sustaining the ''[[convivencia]]'' in Andalusia.{{sfn|Edwards|2001|p=182}} He himself joined the [[Third Order of St. Francis]], and is honored in that Order.

He took care not to overburden his subjects with taxation, fearing, as he said, the curse of one poor woman more than a whole army of Saracens.{{sfn|Heckmann|1909}}