The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand Part 16

_Disputes with the Inquisition of Portugal._

The establishment of the power of Philip II. in Portugal, after the death of the Cardinal King Don Henry, who had occupied the throne until 1580, gave that prince another opportunity of signalizing his zeal for the Inquisition. I have already indicated the period of its inst.i.tution, and the attendant circ.u.mstances[18]. Don Henry was inquisitor-general from 1539 to 1578, when he succeeded to the crown of Portugal, after the death of his nephew Don Sebastian. He bestowed the archbishopric of Lisbon, which he occupied at the time of his accession, on Don George Almeida, and likewise appointed him the third inquisitor-general of the kingdom.

In 1544, Don Henry (who then occupied the see of Evora), and Cardinal Don Juan Pardo de Tabera, inquisitor-general of Spain, with the consent of their respective sovereigns, published a circular, in which they announced, that as the two states were so near each other, and the extent of the frontier favoured the flight of the persons prosecuted by the Inquisition, they had agreed, 1st, to communicate reciprocally everything which might interest the Inquisition; 2nd, to arrest in their respective jurisdictions those subjects who were designated; 3rdly, to keep them prisoners, and to claim the writings of the trial, because this measure was less inconvenient than the exchange of the prisoners.

This convention was observed for some time; but in 1588 the inquisitors of Lisbon sent a requisition to those of Valladolid, to deliver up to them Gonzales Baez, who had been arrested at Medina del Campo: they replied that this demand could not be admitted, as it was contrary to the convention. The inquisitors of Portugal acknowledged the justice of this claim; but those of Spain, who in 1568 found themselves in the same situation, refused to conform to the measure, because they had at their head Cardinal Espinosa, who was all-powerful with Philip. The cardinal informed Don Henry that he had not ratified the convention, and that he considered it more proper that the prisoner should be given up to the tribunal which had inst.i.tuted the trial. He requested Cardinal Henry to apply to both their sovereigns, and promised to propose to the King of Spain a measure which should be a general rule for all cases in future.

Don Henry commissioned Francis Pereira, the Portuguese amba.s.sador at Madrid, to terminate this dispute with Cardinal Espinosa. While this affair was being negotiated, several Spaniards who had been condemned by the tribunal of Llerena to be burnt in effigy as contumacious, were arrested in Portugal by the inquisitors of Evora, who immediately demanded the writings of the trial according to the convention of 1544.

The tribunal of Llerena replied that it was impossible not to follow the example of Cardinal Espinosa. Almost at the same time these inquisitors arrested some Portuguese who had escaped from their country. The Bishop of Portalegre, inquisitor of Evora, reclaimed the prisoners, but the tribunal refused to give them up, if the inhabitants of Albuquerque, who had been arrested by the Inquisition of Evora, were not returned.

Cardinal Henry yielded to the Spanish Inquisition, but wrote to them on the 5th of December to address a formal requisition on this subject, while the Inquisition of Evora would do the same to Cardinal Espinosa.

The Supreme Council consented to this arrangement, and the prisoners were exchanged.

The inquisitor-general, Don Henry, died in 1580. The crown of Portugal then descended to Philip II., as being the son of the Empress Isabella, the sister of John III., King of Portugal. As the office of grand-inquisitor was vacant, he wished to suppress it, and place Portugal under the dominion of that of Spain. He represented to the Pope that there would be more unity in the proceedings: but this attempt was unsuccessful, as he had only been acknowledged king, on condition that the crown should continue independent of that of Spain.

When the Duke of Braganza was proclaimed King of Portugal in the reign of Philip IV., Don Francis de Castro grand-inquisitor, and Don John de Vasconcellas, a member of the council of the Inquisition, remained faithful to the King of Spain. The new sovereign (who had taken the name of John IV.) wished to increase his party. Influenced by the advice of England, which had favoured the insurrection, he resolved to restore to the Jews the liberty which they enjoyed before the establishment of the Inquisition; but he was opposed by the two inquisitors above mentioned.

The council even condemned a decision of the university of Paris, in which it was said that the king could appoint and consecrate bishops without bulls from Rome, if Pope Innocent X. refused to grant them. John IV. threatened the inquisitors with imprisonment, and even with death, but they were ready to suffer anything rather than consent to the emanc.i.p.ation of the Jews. Don Francis de Castro died, and it was necessary to appoint another inquisitor-general; but the bulls of confirmation were not less difficult to obtain than those for bishops, as the Popes, Urban VIII., Innocent X., and Alexander VII., avoided declaring in favour of either the King of Spain or the Duke of Braganza.

At last Portugal triumphed over the efforts of Spain, and the Inquisitions of the two kingdoms seldom had any communication.

That I may not pa.s.s over any event tending to prove the attachment of Philip II. for the Inquisition, I shall here mention a project for a military order of the holy office, which would never have been conceived, if the partiality of the monarch for this tribunal had not been generally known.

Some fanatics thought to please him by founding a new military order under the name of _St. Mary of the White Sword_. The object of this inst.i.tution was to defend the Catholic religion, the kingdom of Spain, its frontiers, and forts, from any invasion; to prevent the ingress of Jews, Moors, and heretics; and to execute any measures which the inquisitor might command. To be a member of this order it was necessary to produce proofs and witnesses that they descended neither from Jews, Moors, nor any Spaniard condemned and punished by the holy office; n.o.bility was not necessary. The members of this a.s.sociation were independent of the jurisdiction of the bishops and civil authorities; they were all to take the field and fight in defence of the frontier towns, but they acknowledged no chief but the inquisitor-general.

This scheme was adopted by the provinces of Castile, Leon, the Asturias, Aragon, Navarre, Galicia, Guipuscoa, Alava, Biscay, Valencia, and Catalonia. The statutes of the order received the approbation of the inquisitor-general and the Supreme Council; the founders and the representatives of the metropolitan churches of Toledo, Seville, Santiago, Grenada, Tarragona, Saragossa, Valencia, and forty-eight n.o.ble families known for having never mixed their blood with that of the New Christians, addressed an humble supplication to the king to obtain the confirmation of them. They represented that the order of the _White Sword_ offered the greatest advantages to Spain; that it would increase the army without any expense of public treasure; that its services would reform and ameliorate the morals of the people; lastly, that it would shed fresh l.u.s.tre on the n.o.bility of the kingdom.

Philip commissioned his Sovereign Council to examine the plan of this inst.i.tution, which was likewise discussed in several a.s.semblies appointed by his majesty. The opinions were various; but I shall make known that of a Spanish gentleman, as it deserves to be recorded.

Don Pedro Venegas, of Cordova, represented to the king, that the new order was not necessary, as the Inquisition had not found the want of it in the most difficult circ.u.mstances; that the bishops reformed the morals of the people as much as could be expected from human nature; that Spain had never wanted troops even when part of the Peninsula was occupied by enemies; that other military orders existed, who were obliged to obey their respective grand-masters; that these dignities were now possessed by the monarch in virtue of apostolical bulls; that the new establishment might one day attack the authority of the sovereign, if the inquisitor-general made a bad use of the troops at his disposal; that several similar instances had been known of the grand-masters of the orders above mentioned; that this inst.i.tution would create two parties in the kingdom, that of the Old Christians and that of the New, and that the distinction granted to the first would cause murders and civil wars, and threaten the monarchy with ruin.

Philip II. thought seriously on what the grand-masters of the military orders had done, and being jealous of his authority, he was not disposed to place an army in the power of the inquisitor-general, who might follow their example; he therefore commanded that the proceedings should be suspended, and the interested persons informed that it had not been found necessary to create a new order.

CHAPTER XX.

THE INQUISITION CELEBRATES AT VALLADOLID, IN 1559, TWO AUTOS-DA-FE AGAINST THE LUTHERANS, IN THE PRESENCE OF SOME MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY.

_First Auto-da-fe._

The trial of Juan Gil, Bishop of Tortosa, so much alarmed many Lutherans, that they quitted the kingdom. Of this number were Ca.s.siodorus de Beina, Juan Perez de Pineda, Cyprian de Valera, and Julian Hernandez; the three first published catechisms, translations of the Bible, and other works written in the Castilian tongue, in foreign countries[19]. Juan Perez published his at Venice in 1556, and they were soon after introduced into Spain by Hernandez, who was arrested by the Inquisition. The citations and inquiries made in consequence of the trial of Hernandez, in order to discover the religious opinions of the persons with whom he a.s.sociated, caused an infinite number of trials to be inst.i.tuted during the fifteen years following, in all the tribunals of Spain, particularly in those of Seville and Valladolid. In 1557 and 1558, the Inquisition arrested a great number of persons distinguished by their birth, their offices, or their doctrine. Some indications found in the writings of the trials, of a vast scheme tending to the propagation of the opinions of Luther, persuaded Philip II. and the inquisitor Valdes that it was necessary to treat all the convicted persons with the utmost severity. Philip wrote to Rome on the subject on the 4th January, 1559. The Pope addressed to Valdes a brief, in which he authorized him to give over to secular justice all dogmatizing Lutherans, even those who had not relapsed, and who, to avoid capital punishment, had given equivocal signs of repentance. If history had nothing to allege against Philip II. and the inquisitor Valdes, but the solicitation for this bull, it would be sufficient to devote their names to infamy.

On the 5th of January, 1559, a second bull revoked all the permissions granted for reading prohibited books, and charged the inquisitor-general to prosecute all who should read or keep them in their houses; and as his Holiness was informed that a great number of writings which tended to propagate the Lutheran doctrines were circulating in Spain, the bull commanded the confessors to ask their penitents if they knew or had heard of any persons possessing, reading, or dispersing them; that they should also impose upon them the obligation of communicating such circ.u.mstances to the holy office on pain of excommunication; and that the confessors who omitted this duty should be punished as guilty, even if persons they absolved were bishops, archbishops, patriarchs, cardinals, _kings_, or _emperors_. It is easy to perceive how much these measures must have increased the number of accusations; and to encourage the informers, Philip renewed the edict of Ferdinand V., published at Toro in 1505, by which they were ent.i.tled to the fourth part of the confiscated property.

The mult.i.tude of accusations caused by these bulls, induced the inquisitor-general to delegate his powers to Don Pedro de la Gasca, Bishop of Palencia, who established himself at Valladolid, and to Don Juan Gonzales de Munebrega, Bishop of Tarragona, who repaired to Seville. Valdes at the same time executed the dispositions of another bull, which granted to the holy office, on account of its increased expenses in travelling and maintaining so great a number of prisoners, the revenues of a canons.h.i.+p in each metropolitan church, cathedral, and college, in the kingdom. Another brief granted them a subsidy of one hundred thousand ducats of gold, to be imposed on the ecclesiastical revenues of the kingdom, to pay the debts contracted from the same cause. It is surprising that, after eighty years of confiscation, the establishment should complain of distress. These bulls, however, were not sufficient to procure money, owing to the resistance of several chapters, particularly that of Majorca. In 1574 they still remained unexecuted, when Gregory XIII. confirmed them, and the King of Spain was obliged to force the rebel canons to submit.

The arrest and trial of so great a number of Spaniards necessarily caused an _auto-da-fe_ to be celebrated in many tribunals; but as the victims in those of Valladolid and Seville were persons distinguished, some for their n.o.bility, others for their doctrine, and all for the purity of their lives, the ceremonies in these cities were more noted than the others; and I do not hesitate in affirming that all that has been written against the Spanish Inquisition in Germany and France was only caused by the treatment of the Lutherans at Seville and Valladolid (for, until then, scarcely anything had been written on the subject), though the number of Lutherans who perished was small, when compared to the enormous and almost incredible number of those who had suffered as Jews or Mahometans.

The first solemn _auto-da-fe_ of Valladolid was celebrated on the 21st of May, 1559, in the grand square, and in the presence of the Prince Don Carlos, and the Princess Juana, of the civil authorities, and of a considerable number of the grandees of Spain, besides an immense mult.i.tude of people. The arrangement of the scaffolds and seats have been already described in several works, and represented in prints.

Fourteen persons were relaxed, the bones and effigy of a woman burnt, and sixteen individuals were admitted to reconciliation, with penances.

Some details of the princ.i.p.al persons may be found interesting.

Donna Eleonora de Vibero (the wife of Pedro Cazalla, who held an office in the Treasury), daughter of Juan de Vibero, who had a similar employment, and Constance Ortiz, was proprietress of a chapel in the Benedictine convent of Valladolid. She had been interred without any doubt of her orthodoxy; but she was accused of Lutheranism by the fiscal of the Inquisition, though he said she had concealed her opinions, by receiving the sacraments and the eucharist at her death. He supported his accusation by the testimony of several witnesses who had been tortured or threatened, the result of which was that the house of Eleonora de Vibero had been used as a temple by the Lutherans. Her memory and her posterity were condemned to infamy, her property confiscated, her body disinterred and burnt with her effigy, and her house razed to the ground, and prohibited from being rebuilt; a monument with an inscription relating to this event was placed on the spot. I have seen the column and the inscription; I have heard that it was destroyed in 1809.

The other princ.i.p.al persons who perished in this _auto-da-fe_ were, Doctor Augustin Cazalla, priest and canon of Salamanca, almoner and preacher to the king and emperor; he was the son of Pedro Cazalla and Eleonora de Vibero, and descended from the Jews both by his father and mother. He was accused of professing the Lutheran heresy; of having dogmatized in the Lutheran conventicle of Valladolid, and corresponded with the heretics of Seville. Cazalla denied the facts imputed to him in several declarations on oath, and in others which he presented when the _publication of the proofs_ took place. The torture was decreed: Cazalla, on the 4th of March, was conducted to the dungeon where it was to be inflicted, but it did not take place, as the prisoner promised to make a confession. He gave it in writing, and ratified it on the 16th, acknowledging that he was a Lutheran, but denied having taught the doctrine. He explained the motives which had prevented him from making this declaration before; and promised to be a good catholic for the future, if reconciliation was granted to him; but the inquisitors did not think proper to spare him the capital punishment, as the witnesses affirmed that he had dogmatized. Cazalla, however, continued to give every possible proof of conversion until his execution: when he saw that death was inevitable, he began to preach to his companions in misfortune. Two days before his death, he related some particulars of his life. He was born in 1510: at the age of seventeen he had Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda for his confessor, in the college of St.

Gregory at Valladolid; he continued his studies at Alcala de Henares, where he remained till 1536. In 1545 Charles V. made him his preacher; in the following year he accompanied that prince to Germany, and stayed there till 1552, preaching against the Lutherans; he returned in that year to Spain, and retired to Salamanca, where he lived for three years, going sometimes to Valladolid. He once attended, by the emperor's order, at an a.s.sembly where Don Antonio Fonseca, president of the Royal Council of Castile, presided, and at which the Licentiate Otalora, the Doctors Ribera and Velasco, auditors of the council and chancery, and Brothers Alphonso de Castro and Bartholomew Carranza a.s.sisted. The object of the meeting was to decide on the course to be pursued on the occasion of certain briefs which the Court of Rome had expedited against those who approved of the decrees of the Council of Trent, which continued to a.s.semble in that city, though the Pope had commanded that it should be transferred to Bologna. Cazalla declared that all the members of the junta acknowledged that the Pope only acted from motives of personal interest; and that Bartholomew Carranza particularly distinguished himself by inveighing against the abuses of the Court of Rome. On the 20th of May, the day before his death, he received a visit from Brother Antonio de la Carrera, a monk of St. Jerome, who was sent to him by the inquisitors, to inform him that they were not satisfied with his declarations, and to exhort him, for the good of his conscience, to confess all that he knew of himself and others. Cazalla answered, that he could not say more, without bearing false-witness. The monk replied, that he had always denied that he had dogmatized, though the contrary was proved by the witnesses. He said, that this crime had been unjustly imputed to him; that he was guilty of not having undeceived those who held bad doctrines; but that he had only spoken of his opinions to persons who thought as he did: Brother Antonio then exhorted him to prepare for death on the following day. This information was a thunderbolt to Cazalla, who had expected to be admitted to a reconciliation. He demanded if his punishment might not be commuted: Carrera told him, that if he confessed what he had hitherto concealed, he might hope for mercy. _Well then_, said Cazalla, _I must prepare to die in the grace of G.o.d; for it is impossible that I should add anything to what I have already said, unless I lie_. He then began to encourage himself to suffer death; he confessed several times in the same night, and the next day to Antonio de la Carrera. When he arrived at the place of the _auto-da-fe_, he asked permission to preach to those who were to suffer with him; he could not obtain it, but he addressed a few words to them: as he was a penitent, he was strangled before, he was burnt. When he was fastened to the stake, he confessed for the last time, and his confessor was so affected by all that he had seen and heard during the last twenty-four hours, that he afterwards wrote, "that he had no doubt that Doctor Cazalla was in Heaven."

Francis de Vibero Cazalla, brother to Augustin, a priest, and Curate of Hormigos in the diocese of Palencia, at first denied the charges, confessed them when tortured, ratified his confession, and demanded to be admitted to reconciliation. This was refused, as it was supposed that he had only confessed from the fear of death. In fact, he ridiculed his brother's exhortations on the scaffold, and expired in the flames without showing any signs of repentance. He was degraded from the priesthood, as well as his brother, before he ascended the scaffold.

Donna Beatrice de Cazalla, sister to the above-mentioned persons, and Alphonso Perez, at first denied the charges, confessed during the torture, demanded reconciliation, but were strangled and burnt.

Don Christobal de Ocampo, of Seville, a knight of the order of St. John, and almoner to the Grand Prior of Castile and Leon, and Don Christobal de Padilla, a knight and inhabitant of Zamora, were condemned to the same punishment for Lutheranism.

The licentiate Antonio Herrezuelo, a lawyer of the city of Toro, condemned as a Lutheran, died without any signs of repentance. Doctor Cazalla addressed some words to him in particular; Antonio ridiculed his discourse, although he was already fastened to the stake. One of the archers, furious at so much courage, plunged his lance into the body of Herrezuelo; he died without uttering a word.

Juan Garcia, a goldsmith of Valladolid, and the licentiate Perez de Herrera, judge of the court against smugglers, in Logrono, suffered as Lutherans. Gonzalez Baez, the Portuguese mentioned in the preceding chapter, suffered as a Judaic heretic.

Donna Catherine de Ortega, widow of the commander Loaisa, and daughter to Hernand Diaz, fiscal of the Royal Council of Castile, was condemned as a Lutheran, and made her confession. She suffered the same fate with Catherine Roman de Pedrosa, Isabella d'Estrada, and Jane Blazquiez, a servant of the Marchioness d'Alcanizes. None of these persons had dogmatized, none had relapsed, but they were condemned because they only confessed during the torture.

Among the persons reconciled were distinguished,--Don Pedro Sarmiento de Roxas, a knight of the order of St. Jago, commander of Quintana, and the son of the first Marquis of Poza. He was condemned as a Lutheran, deprived of his orders, clothed in the perpetual _San-benito_, imprisoned for life, devoted to infamy, and his property confiscated.

Don Louis de Roxas, nephew of the above, was charged with the same crime; he was exiled from Madrid, Valladolid, and Palencia, and prohibited from leaving Spain; his property was confiscated, and he was declared incapable of succeeding to the marquisate of Poza, which pa.s.sed to his youngest brother.

Donna Mencia de Figueroa, wife of Don Pedro Sarmiento de Roxas, and an attendant of the Queen of Spain, was condemned, for Lutheranism, to wear the _San-benito_, to imprisonment for life, and the confiscation of her property.

Donna Anna Henriquez de Roxas, daughter of the Marquis d'Alcanizes, and the wife of Don Juan Alphonso de Fonseca Mexia, was condemned as a Lutheran. She appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ with the _San-benito_, and was afterwards shut up in a monastery. She was twenty-four years of age, was perfectly acquainted with the Latin tongue, and had read the works of Calvin, and those of Constantine Ponce de la Fuente.

Donna Maria de Roxas, a nun of the convent of St. Catherine of Valladolid, and daughter to the first Marquis de Poza. She was condemned as a Lutheran, conducted to the _auto-da-fe_ with the _San-benito_, and secluded for life in her convent. The Inquisition commanded that she should be treated as the lowest in the community in the choir and refectory, and deprived of the power of voting.

Don Juan de Ulloa Pereira, a knight commander of the order of St. John of Jerusalem. He was son and brother to the Lords de la Mota, who were soon after made Marquisses, and an inhabitant of Toro. He was condemned, for Lutheranism, to wear the _San-benito_, to be imprisoned for life, and to be deprived of his property. He was declared infamous, incapable of obtaining dignities, stript of the habit and cross of his order, and banished from Madrid, Valladolid, and Toro, but was prohibited from quitting the kingdom. In 1565, Ulloa represented his situation to the Pope, reminding him of his services in fighting against the Turks, particularly when he took five s.h.i.+ps of the pirate Caramani Arraez; he added that the inquisitor-general had remitted the continuation of his penance for more than a year, but that he wished to regain his rank as a knight, as he was still capable of serving. The Pope granted a brief in favour of Ulloa, rehabilitating him in his privileges as a knight, with a particular clause, stating that what had pa.s.sed could not prevent him from attaining the superior dignities of his order, provided the inquisitor-general and the grand master of Malta approved the decree.

Ulloa was then reinstated in his commandery.

Juan de Vibero Cazalla, a brother of Augustin, and Donna Juana Silva de Ribera, his wife, were condemned, as Lutherans, to be deprived of their liberty and their property, and to wear the _San-benito_.

Donna Constance de Vibero Cazalla, sister of Augustin, and widow of Hernand Ortiz, was condemned to wear the _San-benito_, to perpetual imprisonment, and the confiscation of her property. When Augustin saw his sister pa.s.s, he turned to the princess governess, and said to her: _Princess, I entreat your highness to have compa.s.sion on that unfortunate woman, who will leave thirteen orphans_.

Eleonora de Cisneros, aged twenty-four, the wife of Antonio Herrezuelo, and Donna Francisca Zuniga de Baeza, were condemned to the _San-benito_, imprisonment, and confiscation.

Marina de Saavedra, the widow of Juan Cisneros de Soto, a distinguished gentleman, Isabella Minguez, a servant of Donna Beatrice Cazalla, and Antonio Minguez, the brother of Isabella, suffered the same punishment.

Anthony Wasor, an Englishman, servant to Don Louis de Roxas, was condemned to wear the _San-benito_, to lose his property, and be confined in a convent for one year.

Daniel de la Quadra lost his liberty and property, and took the perpetual _San-benito_, as a Lutheran.

The sermon on the faith was preached by the celebrated Melchior Cano, after all the a.s.sembly had witnessed a scandalous transaction. When the court and all the other attendants had taken their places, Don Francis Baca, Inquisitor of Valladolid, advanced towards the Prince of Asturias, Don Carlos, and his aunt, the princess Juana, to demand and receive from them an oath to maintain and defend the Inquisition, and to reveal to it all that might have been said against the faith by any person within their knowledge. It had been decreed at the establishment of the Inquisition, that the magistrate who presided at an _auto-da-fe_ should take a similar oath, but sovereigns cannot be considered as magistrates.

Don Carlos and his aunt took the oath, but subsequent events show how much he was displeased at the boldness of this inquisitor: he was then aged fourteen years.