The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand Part 13

These pretensions of the Court of Rome did not inspire the inquisitors of Spain with any awe; they have always defended their privileges with so much vigour, that they often refused to execute the apostolical briefs, when they were contrary to the decisions they had made conjointly with the _Supreme_ Council. We find examples of this resistance under Urban VIII., in the condemnation of the works of the Jesuit, John Baptist Poza, which had been p.r.o.nounced at Rome; and under Benedict XIV., when the inquisitor-general, Don Francis Perezdel Prado, Bishop of Teruel, refused to enter upon the _prohibitory index_ the works of Cardinal Noris, in opposition to the request, and even the formal demand, of that great Pope.

Although the inquisitors of Spain pretended that their authority was canonical and spiritual, and had been delegated to them by the sovereign pontiff, who is infallible when he p.r.o.nounces _ex cathedra_, yet they always opposed this infallibility in fact, and refused to submit to his decrees, when contrary to their particular system. The inquisitors would have acted differently, if they had not been certain that by applying to the king and interesting his policy, they would force the royal authority to take a part in their quarrels, and oppose the measures of the pontiff, who, if they had not possessed that powerful support, would have treated them as rebels, and degraded them to the rank of simple priests by depriving them of their employments.

_History of the Viceroys of Sicily and Catalonia._

In 1535, Charles V. had deprived the Inquisition of the right of exercising the royal jurisdiction, and it was not restored to them till 1545; consequently, in 1543, they had not the privilege of trying their officers, familiars, or other secular attendants of the holy office, for matters not relating to religion. This royal decree was known to the Captain-general of Catalonia, Don Pedro Cardona, when he commenced proceedings against the gaoler, a familiar and a servant of the grand-serjeant of the Inquisition of Barcelona, for carrying arms, which was prohibited in his government.

The inquisitors of Barcelona had become insolent, from having always prevailed in affairs of this nature, and they inst.i.tuted proceedings against Don Pedro Cardona, as a rebel against the holy office; without respecting his high situations of captain-general, and military governor of the province, or the rank and name of his ill.u.s.trious family. Being informed that the emperor was only nine leagues from Barcelona, they denounced the act of his lieutenant to him, and represented, through Cardinal Tabera, that if Cardona was not condemned to make a public reparation, the people would lose all respect for the Inquisition, and an incalculable injury be done to the Catholic religion throughout the kingdom.

The emperor, blinded by fanaticism, not only favoured the inquisitors against all justice, and in contempt of his own ordinance of 1535; but he wrote to Cardona, that the interests of the faith required that he should submit to receive the absolution _ad cautelam_. This order deeply afflicted Don Pedro, but he resolved to obey his master, and demanded absolution. The inquisitors, to render their triumph greater, celebrated an _auto-da-fe_, in the cathedral of Barcelona, where Cardona was compelled to attend, standing without a sword, and with a taper in his hand, during the celebration of ma.s.s, and the ceremony of his absolution.

Charles V. had also deprived the Inquisition of Sicily of the royal jurisdiction, for the s.p.a.ce of five years, and afterwards prolonged it to ten; but the inquisitors represented, through Cardinal Tabera, that the inconveniences arising from this measure were so great, that Don Ferdinand Gonzaga, Prince de Malfeta, the viceroy and captain-general of the island, was informed that the suspension was to be revoked at the expiration of the tenth year, without a particular order. The Marquis de Terranova had been viceroy and governor-general; he was constable and admiral of Naples, a grandee of Spain of the first cla.s.s, and related to the emperor through the house of Aragon. Two familiars of the Inquisition had been taken before the civil tribunal, by his orders, for some crimes which they had committed. Philip of Austria, Prince of Asturias, the eldest son of Charles V., then aged sixteen, governed the Spanish dominions during the absence of his father; and as he was not less superst.i.tious, his conduct towards the Marquis de Terranova was the same as that of the emperor to Don Pedro Cardona. I consider it necessary to give the letter of the Prince to the Marquis de Terranova; it was as follows:--

"I, the Prince, Honourable marquis, admiral and constable, our dear counsellor: you know what happened when you commanded two familiars of the holy office to be whipped (while you were governor of this kingdom, and not well informed of the affair). So great a contempt for that holy tribunal has been the result, that it has been impossible for it to command anything with the success which it formerly obtained. On the contrary, several persons of this kingdom have presumed to insult and use violence towards the officers of the Inquisition, and to prevent and disturb them in the exercise of their office, according to the complaints and informations which we have received on this affair. The reverend Cardinal of Toledo, inquisitor-general, and the members of the council of the general Inquisition, have deliberated with his majesty, and it has been found proper and convenient that you should do penance for the fault you have committed; saying that it should be gentle and moderate, in consideration of the services you have rendered his majesty. In consequence, the inquisitor-general and the council, guided by their esteem for your person, have commanded the inquisitor Gongora to speak to you, and represent your fault, that you may accomplish the penance imposed, which (according to the nature of the fact, and the evil which has been the result) ought to have been much more severe, as you will learn from what the inquisitors have been commanded to say to you. As to the rest, this has only been decreed for the glory of G.o.d, the honour of the holy office, and the good of your conscience. We require and charge you, for the sake of the good example which you owe to others, to accept and accomplish this penance, with the submission which is due to the church, and without waiting to be compelled by means of excommunication and ecclesiastical censures; the submission which we ask of you will not affect your honour, but will be profitable to you in freeing you from all inquietude and vexation; it is approved by his majesty, will give us pleasure, and we undertake to treat you in all that concerns you with the favour that we have used towards you, and which we will show whenever there is an opportunity. Given at Valladolid, 15th December, 1543. I, the Prince." This letter is marked by several members of the council, and countersigned _Juan Garcia, pro-secretary_.

The silence which is observed on the nature of the penance imposed on the viceroy is remarkable; but whatever gentleness and moderation was affected, it was the same as that of Don Pedro Cordona. The only difference to be observed was, that it did not take place in the cathedral, but in the church of the Dominican convent; it was also thought necessary, by way of compensation, to prevent the Marquis from kneeling, except during the elevation of the host, that he might be more exposed to the sight of the people, and to condemn him to pay an hundred ducats to the familiars whom he had punished.

_History of the False Nuncio of the Pope in Portugal._

The history of the quarrels of the Inquisition with the royal authority affords another conflict of jurisdiction. I speak of the affair of the famous Juan Perez de Saavedra mentioned in histories, romances, and dramatic pieces, under the name of _the False Nuncio of Portugal_, and who generally pa.s.ses for the founder of the Inquisition in that kingdom.

The critic Feijoo has supposed that the history of this affair was fabulous. The narration of Saavedra, which Feijoo quotes, contains fables, but it also contains truths belonging to the history of the Inquisition. It is necessary to enter into the details of this history: I shall first relate the facts according to the narrative which Saavedra wrote for the Cardinal Espinosa in 1567; I shall afterwards establish the truth on some points which that impostor contrived to obscure.

Juan Perez de Saavedra was born at Cordova. His father was a captain in a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the munic.i.p.ality of that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, Anne de Guzman, was descended from a family as n.o.ble as that of her husband.

Saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances, regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly, that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their authenticity, and pa.s.sed for a knight commander of the military order of St. Jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for the s.p.a.ce of a year and a half. In a short time, by means of the royal orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) _if he had not clothed himself in scarlet_, that is, if he had not taken it into his head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of a legate _a latere_.

He says, that being in the kingdom of Algarves, a short time after the inst.i.tution of the Jesuits had been confirmed by Paul III., a priest of that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the kingdom of Portugal; that having heard him preach on St. Andrew's Day, he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him several days in his house. The jesuit, having discovered his talent during this period, expressed a wish to have a _fac-simile_ of his brief, containing an eulogy on the Society of Jesus. He performed this task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would accrue to Portugal from the establishment of the Society of Jesus, it would be proper to introduce the Inquisition on the same plan as that of Spain. Saavedra then went to Tabilla, a town in the same province, where, with the a.s.sistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from Charles V. and Prince Philip his son, to the King of Portugal, John III. This bull was supposed to have been sent to Saavedra, as legate, to establish the Inquisition in Portugal, if the king consented.

Saavedra afterwards pa.s.sed the frontier, and went to Ayamonte, in the kingdom of Seville. The Provincial and Franciscan monks of Andalusia had lately arrived there from Rome. Saavedra thought he would try if the bull would pa.s.s as authentic: he told the Provincial that some individual going to Portugal had dropped a parchment on the road, which he showed him, and begged to know if it was of importance, as, in that case, he would lose no time in restoring it to the person who had dropped it. The Provincial took the parchment for an original writing and true bull; he made the contents known to Saavedra, and expatiated on the advantages which Portugal would derive from it.

Saavedra went to Seville, and took into his service two confidants, one of whom was to be his secretary, the other his major-domo; he bought litters and silver-plate, and adopted the dress of a Roman cardinal; he sent his confidants to Cordova and Grenada to hire servants, and commanded them to go with his suite to Badajoz, where they gave out that they were the familiars of a Cardinal from Rome, who would pa.s.s through the city in his way to Portugal, to establish the Inquisition by the order of the Pope; they also announced that he would soon arrive, as he travelled post.

At the appointed time Saavedra appeared at Badajoz, where his servants publicly kissed his hand as the Pope's Legate. He left Badajoz for Seville, where he was received into the archiepiscopal palace of Cardinal Loaisa, who resided at Madrid in the quality of apostolical commissary-general of the holy crusade. He received the greatest marks of respect and devotion from Don Juan Fernandez de Temino, the vicar-general. He remained eighteen days in this city, and during that time obtained, by false obligations, the sum of eleven hundred and thirty ducats from the heirs of the Marquis de Tarifa. He afterwards took the road to Llerena (where the Inquisition of Estremadura had been established), after going to different towns in the province; he was lodged in part of the buildings of the Inquisition, which was then occupied by the Inquisitors Don Pedro Alvarez Becerra and Don Louis de Cardenas, to whom he said that he meant to visit the Inquisition of Llerena in his quality of legate; and, after having fulfilled that part of his mission, he should proceed to Portugal, where he should establish the holy office on the plan of that of Spain.

Saavedra then returned to Badajoz, from whence he sent his secretary to Lisbon with his bulls and papers, that the court being informed of his arrival, might prepare to receive him. The mission of this agent caused great doubts and agitation at the court, where such a novelty was little expected: nevertheless, the king sent a n.o.bleman to the frontier to receive the Cardinal Legate, who made his entry into Lisbon, where he pa.s.sed three months, and was treated with every mark of respect: he then undertook a long journey into different parts of the kingdom, going over the dioceses, and taking a detailed account of them; it would have been difficult to discover the aim of his apostolical solicitude, if some unforeseen circ.u.mstances had not put an end to his imposture.

The Inquisition of Spain discovered this intrigue through the address of Cardinal Tabera, who shared the cares of government with the Prince of Asturias, at the time when Charles V. was absent in France. In consequence of the measures concerted between the cardinal and the Marquis de Villaneuva de Barcarrota, the governor of Badajoz, Saavedra was arrested at Nieva de Guadiana in the Portuguese territory, on the 23rd of January, 1541, where he was at table with the curate of the village, who had entreated that he would do him the honour of visiting his parish, as he had the others in the diocese. This request was only a snare, in order to arrest the impostor with more safety.

Saavedra says that, when he was arrested, three treasures which he had with him were seized; one of twenty thousand ducats, the produce of the fines of the condemned, destined for the holy office; the second of a hundred and fifty thousand ducats, which, he said, he intended to apply to the use of the church, and other good works; the third of ninety thousand ducats, which belonged to himself. Saavedra was taken to Madrid by the order of the procurator-general of the kingdom, and there imprisoned. The alcaldes of the court went to him, and received his declaration, which was necessary to the trial. The tribunal of the Inquisition had not then been established at Madrid, which was subject to that of Toledo. The inquisitors pretended that this affair ought to come before them, because it was to be presumed that the prisoner had renounced the Catholic religion, from the fictions which he had invented to procure money; as if Catholics did not commit greater crimes every day!

As the inquisitor-general was the lieutenant of the prince, the holy office was sure to prevail. Tabera, wis.h.i.+ng to satisfy both parties, decreed that the alcaldes should remain in possession of the person of Saavedra, and proceed against him for his exactions, forgeries, and other political crimes, and that the holy office should take cognizance of the crimes against the faith which he had been guilty of, under the t.i.tle of a cardinal.

The inquisitor reflected that Saavedra was a man of great talent, and that he therefore should be treated with moderation; besides that, he had always conducted himself like a real judge, except that he only condemned the accused to pay fines.

Saavedra declared that these reasons made the inquisitor-general wish to be personally acquainted with him; that he caused him to be brought before him, heard him with interest, and offered to protect him, promising to give him for a judge any one that he named: that he then expressed a wish to be judged by Doctor Arias, inquisitor at Llerena; this was granted, and caused great murmurs against the cardinal and the court at Madrid, where it was whispered that Tabera had appropriated the ninety thousand ducats which had been taken from Saavedra: that Doctor Arias condemned him to serve ten years in the king's galleys; that, after a detention of two years, the alcaldes of Madrid p.r.o.nounced his definitive sentence, one of the princ.i.p.al parts of which was, that after having fulfilled the inquisitorial sentence, he could not be set at liberty, or quit the galleys without the permission of his majesty, on pain of death; that he was sent to the galleys in 1544; that in 1554, although the period of his punishment had expired, he could not obtain his liberty: then, persuaded that his affair depended more on the Inquisition than the alcaldes of the court, he endeavoured to interest the Pope in his fate, representing that he had done several things extremely useful to religion and the state, in the exercise of his false legation; that Paul IV. sent him a brief, which was addressed to the inquisitor-general Don Ferdinand Valdes, whom his holiness charged to obtain Saavedra's liberty; that he received this brief when the king's galleys were in the port of St. Mary; that he immediately forwarded it to the bishop coadjutor of Seville, and he sent it to the inquisitor-general, who was his archbishop. Valdes having communicated the affair to Philip II., that prince gave orders that Saavedra should be set at liberty, that he might immediately repair to court. Saavedra arrived there in 1562, after having pa.s.sed nineteen years in the galleys. He was presented to the king, who desired to hear his history from his own lips, and to have it in writing; while Saavedra related it to the king, Antonio Perez wrote down the singular events of his life: lastly, Saavedra himself wrote it in 1567, for the inquisitor-general, Don Diego Espinosa.

The history of Saavedra has furnished the subject for a Spanish comedy, ent.i.tled the "_False Nuncio of Portugal_," in which not only all the unities of time, place, and action are wanting, but the rule which only admits probable events is infringed; but this ought not to surprise in poets, since the hero himself has taken the same liberty in the narrative which he composed for the amus.e.m.e.nt of Cardinal Espinosa. It is certain that he was imprisoned on the 25th of January, 1541, as he states in his history. But this point, so well established, proves that he imposed in other circ.u.mstances; for example, if what he relates of the Jesuit in Algarves is true, it could not have happened until the year 1540, because Paul III. only expedited his bull of approval for the _Society of Jesus_, on the 27th of September, 1540; now the sermon preached by the Jesuit on St. Andrew's day corresponds with the 30th of November in the same year, that is, on the fifty-second day before his imprisonment; this interval would not be sufficient for his journeys to Ayamonte, Llerena, Seville, Badajoz, and in Portugal. Thus Saavedra did not speak truth, either in stating the period of his appearing to the world as a Cardinal, and the motives which induced him to enter into the intrigue with the Jesuit; or when he said that he sustained his part for three months at Lisbon, and during three months which he employed in visiting different towns in the kingdom.

Besides, the number and names of the disciples of St. Ignatius were known at that period; and it is certain that before the bull of approbation was obtained, the founder of the order had appointed St.

Francis Xavier and Simon Rodriguez, a Portuguese, to preach in Portugal; and that these monks left Rome on the 15th of March, 1540, with the Portuguese amba.s.sador; that on their arrival at Lisbon, John III. wished to receive them into his palace; that they refused that honour, and lodged in the hospital; that St. Francis Xavier embarked for the East Indies, with the new governor, on the 8th of April, 1541, and that Rodriguez remained in Portugal to preach, as he had already done, to the great satisfaction of the inhabitants, who had a high opinion of his virtues: these circ.u.mstances render it improbable that the Jesuit would ask for a forged brief, and enter into an intrigue with a layman.

Saavedra says, that the court of Lisbon was disturbed at the news of the arrival of a nuncio in Portugal. This would not be extraordinary, as neither the Pope nor any other person had written to the court on the subject, and as the Pope had appointed Don Henry, archbishop of Braga, the king's brother, inquisitor-general in the preceding year. But if the arrival of the legate caused so much surprise, it was natural that the king should write to the Pope, whose answer would have arrived two months afterwards, and Saavedra would have been detected before the end of the third month, and thus there would have been no necessity for the king of Spain to arrest him.

It is not more certain that Saavedra established the Inquisition in Portugal. The expulsion of the Jews took place in 1492; many of them retired to Portugal: among them were some that had been baptized, and John II. consented to receive them into his states, if they would behave like faithful Christians. King Manuel ordered them to quit the kingdom, and to leave all their children under the age of fourteen, who were to be made Christians; they offered to receive baptism, if the king would promise not to establish the Inquisition for twenty years; the king granted their request, and also that the names of the witnesses should be communicated to them, if they were accused of heresy after that period, besides the power of bequeathing their effects if they were condemned. In 1507, Manuel confirmed these privileges, prolonging the first twenty years, and rendering the others perpetual: in 1520, John renewed the first concession for another twenty years.

Clement VII., being informed that the baptized Jews in Portugal did not show much attachment to the Christian religion, and that the Protestant and Lutheran heresies made great progress in the kingdom, appointed Brother Diego de Silva inquisitor for that country. He attempted to exercise his functions, but the new Christians claimed their rights, which were to last for several years; a trial was the result of this opposition. Clement VII. died, and his successor, Paul III., granted to the New Christians a privilege which they could not obtain in Portugal; that they might confide, to persons chosen by themselves, their defence before the prince of the sense to be given to the dispositions of their privileges, which had been interpreted to their prejudice. In the same year, the Pope granted them a pardon for all that had pa.s.sed.

The king afterwards represented that the converted Jews abused their privileges, some returning to Judaism, and others adopting the errors of the Protestants. This circ.u.mstance induced the Pontiff to publish another bull on the 25th of March, 1536, which is considered as the foundation of the Inquisition in Portugal. The Pope appointed as inquisitors, the Bishops of Combra, Lamego, and Ceuta; and decreed at the same time, that another bishop or priest of the king's nomination should be a.s.sociated with them. The Pope granted to each inquisitor the power of proceeding against heretics and their adherents, in concert with the diocesan in ordinary, or alone, if he refused to a.s.sist; they were likewise obliged for the first three years, in the proceedings against heretics, to conform to the manner of proceeding in cases of theft or homicide, and after that period to the rules of common law; the practice of confiscation was abolished, and the heirs of the condemned could inherit as if he died intestate. Lastly, the Pope commanded that a sufficient number of tribunals should be inst.i.tuted, for the execution of these measures[11]. The king appointed Don Diego de Silva, bishop of Ceuta, first inquisitor-general.

Such was the origin of the Inquisition in Portugal, four years before Saavedra arrived in that country. In 1539, the Pope appointed Don Henry, archbishop of Braga, to succeed the first inquisitor-general. The third grand inquisitor was Don George de Almeida, archbishop of Lisbon.

All that I have now stated is taken from authentic doc.u.ments. I conclude from them that Juan Perez de Saavedra forged his brief of cardinal _a latere_, presented it in December, 1540, and succeeded in concealing his forgery; that what he related of the Jesuit was not true, or happened differently; that seeing the Inquisition established in a manner contrary to his opinions, he insinuated that it would be better to take that of Spain as a model, which was well known to the inquisitors of Llerena, and that he would visit the different parts of the kingdom to facilitate this design; that he travelled through part of the kingdom in the month of December, and continued his journeys in January in the following year, when he was arrested, before the court of Lisbon received information of his imposture. I have no doubt that Saavedra ama.s.sed great sums, but I am far from thinking that they were as considerable as he affirmed them to be.

Cardinal Tabera, sixth inquisitor-general, died on the 1st of August, 1545: at his death the number of tribunals was the same as when he was placed at the head of the Inquisition: he had re-established that of Jaen, but the tribunal of Navarre was united with that of Calahorra.

The number of victims, calculated as it was for the time of Manrique, affords, for the seven years of Cardinal Tabera's ministry, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty individuals condemned and punished; eight hundred and forty were burnt in person, four hundred and twenty in effigy; the rest, in number five thousand, four hundred, and sixty, were subjected to different penances. I firmly believe that the number was much more considerable; but faithful to my system of impartiality, I have stated the most moderate calculation.

CHAPTER XVII.

OF THE INQUISITIONS OF NAPLES, SICILY, AND MALTA, AND OF THE EVENTS OF THE TIME OF CARDINAL LOAISA, SEVENTH INQUISITOR-GENERAL.

_Naples._

Charles V. appointed, to succeed Cardinal Pardo de Tabera, Cardinal Don Garcia de Loaisa, Archbishop of Seville, who was the seventh inquisitor-general. This prelate had arrived at a great age, since he had signed different ordinances of the Supreme Council in 1517. He had been the confessor of Charles V., prior-general of the order of St.

Dominic, Bishop of Osma and Siguenza, and apostolical commissary of the Holy Crusade. The Court of Rome expedited his bulls of confirmation on the 18th of February, 1546, and he died on the 22nd of April, in the same year.

In 1546, Charles V. resolved to establish the Inquisition at Naples, although his grandfather had failed in the attempt in 1504 and 1510. He commissioned his viceroy, Don Pedro de Toledo, Marquis of Villa Franca del Bierzo, to select inquisitors and officers from among the inhabitants, to send to the government a list of the persons chosen, and all the necessary doc.u.ments, that the inquisitor-general might be able to delegate the necessary powers to the new inquisitors: when these measures had been taken, the tribunal was to be established with all the forms of the inquisitorial jurisdiction.

Frederic Munter, professor of theology in the literary academy at Copenhagen, has supposed that the intrigues of Don Pedro de Toledo were the causes of the introduction of the Inquisition; but he was not able to consult the original doc.u.ments, which are now in my hands, and this impossibility was the cause of his errors in his history of the Sicilian Inquisition.

The efforts of Charles V., to establish the Inquisition at Naples, arose from the progress which Lutheranism made in Germany, and his fear that it would penetrate into other countries. His inclinations were fostered by Cardinal Loaisa, and the councillors of the Inquisition: the only part that Don Pedro took in this affair, was, that he was the first person to whom the emperor confided his intentions, and the only one who had sufficient wisdom to advise his master to relinquish his designs, when he found the evil they would cause. The orders of the emperor were executed without meeting any opposition; but scarcely was it known that some persons had been arrested by the new Inquisition, than the people rebelled, crying, "_Long live the Emperor! Perish the Inquisition!_" The Neapolitans flew to arms, they compelled the Spanish troops to retire to the fortresses, and Charles V. was obliged to abandon his enterprise.

It is worthy of remark, that Paul III. openly protected the Neapolitan rebels; being displeased that the Inquisition of Naples should depend on that of Spain, he complained that his predecessors, Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., and Julius II., had done much evil in not making the inquisitors entirely dependant on the Popes, and in allowing an intermediate authority, which rendered that of the holy see of no effect.

Paul III., without communicating these motives to the Neapolitans, told them that they were right in resisting the will of their master, since the Spanish Inquisition was extremely severe, and did not follow the example of that of Rome, which had been established three years, and of which no complaints had been made.

In 1563, Philip II. attempted to introduce his favourite tribunal at Naples, but the inhabitants had recourse to their usual method, and the despot was obliged to yield.

_Sicily and Malta._

The holy office of Sicily triumphed in the same year still more completely than it had done in 1543. In 1500, Ferdinand V. endeavoured to establish the Spanish Inquisition in that kingdom, after having suppressed that of the Pope's, which was confided to the monks of St.

Dominic; but all his efforts failed, until the year 1503. In 1520, Charles V. wrote to the Pope to request that he would not admit any appeals from persons condemned by the Sicilian Inquisition, because they could apply for that purpose to the inquisitor-general of Spain, in virtue of apostolical concessions granted by his predecessors, and confirmed by himself.