The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand Part 20

79th. On the day after the _auto-da-fe_, the inquisitors shall cause all the reconciled persons to be brought into their presence. They shall explain to each the sentence which had been read the day before, and shall tell him to what punishment he would have been condemned if he had not confessed his crime; they shall examine them all, particularly on what pa.s.ses in the prisons, and they shall afterwards give them into the custody of the gaoler of the _perpetual_ prisons, who shall be commissioned to observe that they accomplish their penances, and to inform them when they fail. He shall also be required to supply the prisoners with everything they want, and to procure work for those who can occupy themselves, that they may contribute to their subsistence, and be able to alleviate their misery.

80th. The inquisitors shall visit the _perpetual_ prisons from time to time, to observe the conduct of the prisoners, and if they are well treated. In those places where there is no _perpetual_ prison, a house shall be provided instead; for without this precaution it is impossible to inflict the punishment of imprisonment on those who are condemned to it, or to ascertain if they faithfully accomplish their penances.

81st. The _San-benitos_ of all those persons who have been condemned to _relaxation_, shall be exposed in their respective parishes, after they have been burnt in person or in effigy; the same shall be done with the _San-benitos_ of the reconciled persons, after they have left them off: no _San-benitos_ shall be suspended in the churches for those individuals who have been reconciled before the term of grace, as they have not been condemned to wear them. The inscription for the _San-benito_ shall consist of the names of the condemned persons, a notice of the heresies for which they were punished, and of the time when they suffered their penance in order to perpetuate the disgrace of the heretics and their descendants.

As this formulary is still in force in the tribunals of the holy office, it appeared to me useless to follow minutely the details of the events of the reign of each inquisitor-general, since the nature of the inst.i.tution may be known by the picture I have given of its laws and ordinances, and by the observations which I shall have occasion to make in the remainder of the history.

I shall only add, that Don Ferdinand Valdes was, in 1566, succeeded by Don Diego Espinosa, Bishop of Siguenza and President of the Council of Castile. Espinosa died on the 5th of September, 1572. Don Pedro Ponce de Leon, Bishop of Placentia and Estremadura, was the next inquisitor-general, but he died before he had entered on his office.

The king appointed the Cardinal Gaspard de Quiroga, Archbishop of Toledo, to be the eleventh inquisitor-general: he died on the 20th November, 1594.

Don Jerome Manrique de Lara succeeded Quiroga; he was Bishop of Avila, and the son of Cardinal Manrique, who had filled the same office under Charles V.

Don Jerome died in September, 1595, and after him Don Pedro Portocarrero, Bishop of Cordova, was at the head of the Inquisition.

The fourteenth inquisitor-general was the Cardinal Don Ferdinand Nino de Guevara, Archbishop of Seville, who took possession in December 1599, during the reign of Philip III.

It was under Philip II. that the Inquisition committed the greatest cruelties; and the reign of this prince is the most remarkable period of the history of the holy office.

CHAPTER XXIII.

OF SOME AUTOS-DA-FE CELEBRATED IN MURCIA.

The opinions of Luther, Calvin, and the other Protestant reformers, were not disseminated in the other cities in Spain with the same rapidity as at Seville and Valladolid; but there is reason to believe that all Spain would soon have been infected with the heresy, but for the extreme severity shown towards the Lutherans. From 1560 to 1570 at least one _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated every year in every Inquisition of the kingdom, and some heretics of the new sect always appeared among the condemned persons. Yet the progress of Lutheranism cannot be compared to that of Judaism and Mahometanism, because these religions had been long established, and the ancestors of a great number of Spanish families had professed them. An opinion may be formed of what pa.s.sed in the other tribunals from some notices of the proceedings of that of Murcia.

On the 7th of June, 1557, a solemn _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated at Murcia, where eleven individuals were burnt, and forty-three were reconciled. On the 12th of February, 1559, thirty victims were burnt with five effigies, and forty-three were reconciled. On the 14th February, in the same year, 1560, fourteen persons were burnt, and twenty effigies: twenty-nine persons were subjected to penances.

On the 8th of September, in the same year, sixteen individuals perished in the flames, and forty-eight were condemned to penances.

On the 15th of March, 1562, another _auto-da-fe_ took place, composed of twenty-three persons, who were burnt, and of sixty-three who were condemned to penances. They were all punished as Judaic heretics: among the first may be remarked, Fray Louis de Valdecanas, a Franciscan, descended from the ancient Jews; he was condemned for having preached the law of Moses; Juan de Santa-Fe, Alvarez Xuarez, and Paul d'Ayllon, alderman or sheriffs; Pedro Gutierrez, a member of the munic.i.p.ality; and Juan de Leon, syndic of the city.

An _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated in the same town on the 20th of May, 1563; seventeen persons were burnt in person, and four in effigy; forty-seven others were subjected to penances. I shall mention those distinguished by their rank or some particularity in their trials.

Don Philip of Aragon, son of the Emperor of Fez and Morocco, came to Spain while he was very young, and became a Christian; he had for his G.o.dfather Ferdinand of Aragon, Viceroy of Valencia, Duke of Calabria, and eldest son of the King of Naples, Frederic III. Neither his rank, as the son of an emperor, nor the advantage of having a prince for his G.o.dfather, were sufficient to prevent the inquisitors from exposing him to the disgrace of appearing in a solemn _auto-da-fe_; he was introduced in the ceremony with the paper mitre on his head, terminated by long horns, and covered with figures of devils. In this state he was admitted to public reconciliation, after which he was to be imprisoned for three years in a convent, then banished for ever from the town of Elche where he had settled, and from the kingdoms of Valencia, Aragon, Murcia, and Grenada. The inquisitors boasted much of the lenity of this sentence, and informed the public that it was occasioned by Don Philip's having given himself up, instead of taking flight as he might have done. It appears that, after his baptism, he had shown some interest and inclination to the sect of Mahomet; he had also given a.s.sistance to some apostates, and had shown himself a favourer and concealer of heretics.

He was also accused of having made a compact with the devil, and having practised sorcery.

The licentiate Antonio de Villena, a native of Albacete, and a priest and preacher much esteemed at court, appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ in his s.h.i.+rt, with his head uncovered and a flambeau in his hand; he abjured heresy as slightly suspected. He was reconciled, and condemned to one year's imprisonment, without the privilege of celebrating the holy mysteries; deprived for ever of the power of preaching, banished from Madrid for two years, and obliged to pay five hundred ducats toward the expenses of the holy office. His crime was having spoken ill of the Inquisition, and of the inquisitor-general Valdes, saying that he persecuted him, and that he would find an opportunity of complaining to the king. He had also been unfortunate enough to betray the system of the prisons of the holy office, after having been detained there twice for suspicious propositions.

Juan de Sotomayor, of Jewish origin, and a native of the town of Murcia, appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ as a penitent, with the gag and the cord round his neck. He was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, to wear the _San-benito_, and to be imprisoned in the _House of Mercy_ for life, with a threat that he should be treated with still greater severity if he presumed to converse with any one on the affairs of the Inquisition.

Juan de Sotomayor had already been arrested and condemned to a penance, as suspected of Judaism. When he was set at liberty, he conversed with several persons on the subject, repeated the confession he had made, and some other circ.u.mstances. This was the crime for which he was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, and to be imprisoned for life!

Francis Guillen, a merchant, of Jewish origin, appeared in the _auto-da-fe_, with several persons condemned to be _relaxed_, in virtue of a definitive sentence confirmed by the Supreme Council, which was to be read during the ceremony, with the charges against him. In the midst of the _auto-da-fe_ Francis announced that he had new declarations to make. Immediately Don Jerome Manrique (son of the Cardinal of that name, and who was afterwards inquisitor-general) descended from the tribunal, took off the insignia of _relaxation_, and gave Francis those belonging to a person intended to be reconciled.

The history of this trial proves the arbitrary conduct, and the disorder with which the inquisitors pursued and judged the causes, and executed their sentences.

More than twenty witnesses deposed that Francis Guillen had attended a.s.semblies of the Jews in 1551, and the following years. He was sent to the secret prisons, and his sentence of _relaxation_ was p.r.o.nounced in December, 1561. The process having been sent to the Supreme Council, the Council remarked that two new witnesses having been heard before the end of the trial, their depositions had not been communicated to the condemned; in consequence they commanded that this formality should be fulfilled, and that the votes should be afterwards given, according to law. The inquisitors obeyed, but they did not agree on the sentence; some voted for relaxation, the others that the trial should be suspended, and that the accused should be induced to acknowledge that which was admitted to be true, from the state of the depositions.

Francis had three audiences, in which he confessed several other facts which related to himself, or concerned other persons; the inquisitors then voted a second time for the definitive sentence. Francis was unanimously declared to be a false penitent, for having confessed only a part of his crimes, and he was condemned to be _relaxed_; but it was agreed that as he had concealed facts concerning persons of consideration, he should be induced to make a more extended declaration.

On the 27th of April, Guillen named twelve accomplices in his heresy, and ratified his declaration. On the 9th of May it was decreed that he should be told to prepare to die the next day. Francis inquired if his life would be spared, supposing that he revealed all he knew: they replied that he might depend upon the clemency of his judges. He demanded another audience, named a great many persons as his accomplices, and designated Fray Louis de Valdecanas as the princ.i.p.al preacher of the party. Some time after he accused other persons. On the night of the 19th the inquisitors a.s.sembled, with the ordinary and consultors, and decided that Francis should appear in the _auto-da-fe_ with the habit of the _relaxed_ persons, in order to make him suppose that he was condemned to die; but that he should be reconciled, with the punishment of the _san-benito_, perpetual imprisonment, and confiscation.

When he was placed among those destined to the flames, Francis demanded an audience. The inquisitor Marinque then informed him of his sentence; and when he was taken back to the prison, he made a new declaration against nine persons, alleging that he had forgotten them in his other depositions: he ratified these on the 22nd of the same month.

Some days after the inquisitor-general caused the tribunal to be visited; the visitor declared that the judges had acted contrary to the laws in conducting Francis to the _auto-da-fe_ in the habit of a relaxed person, when they had decided on his reconciliation. The inquisitors endeavoured to justify themselves by saying that they thought it would frighten the accused into making new declarations. The visitor commanded that Francis should be reconciled and taken to the prison of the _Penitents_, likewise called that of _Mercy_.

Francis, who was probably a little deranged, declared several times that he had deceived the inquisitors by accusing some persons as heretics who were innocent, because he hoped that he should escape death by this proceeding. These words were reported to the inquisitors, and Francis was taken to the secret prisons. There was an act of accusation against him; he acknowledged all the articles of the fiscal, and affirmed upon oath that all his declarations were true; he ratified them, and begged that he might be pardoned. On the 19th of January, 1564, he was condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fe_ with the gag, to receive two hundred stripes, and to pa.s.s three years in the house of _Penitence_.

Francis suffered the stripes, but they did not render him more prudent, for he declared, even in the prison, that he was unjustly treated, for all that he had said was false, and dictated by fear.

In 1565, the Inquisition of Murcia received the visit of a new commissary, who obliged Francis to appear before him as a witness, to ratify a declaration which he had made against Catherine Perez, his wife, for Judaism. The following dialogue took place between the visitor and the witness:--

Do you remember making a declaration against Catherine Perez, your wife?--Yes.

What was that declaration?--It will be found in the writings of the trial. (The declaration was here read to Francis.)

Is what you have just heard true?--No.

Why then did you affirm that it was so?--Because I heard an inquisitor say it.

Are the declarations against other persons true?--No.

Why did you make them?--Because I perceived in the _auto-da-fe_ at which I a.s.sisted, that the contents were read in the publication of the depositions, and I thought that if I declared it to be true, I should avoid death as being a good penitent.

Why did you make your ratification after the _auto-da-fe_, when the fiscal presented you as a witness against your wife, and other persons?--For the same reason.

After this conversation, Francis was sent back to the prison, where he wrote a kind of memorial, in which he said that none of the witnesses were admissible against him, because they differed and contradicted each other in their declarations.

When the visitor was gone, the inquisitors recommenced their prosecution; the fiscal accused Francis Guillen of the crime of _revocation_, saying that he had imposed on them from fear, ignorance, or some other motive. When Francis again found himself in danger, he, as might have been expected, declared that his first depositions were true, and that the cause of his retracting was a mental indisposition, with which he had been affected. On the 10th November, 1565, Francis was condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fe_, to receive three hundred stripes, and to pa.s.s the rest of his life in a prison. The punishment of imprisonment was commuted for that of serving in the galleys, as long as the strength and health of Francis allowed of it. The judges reserved the right of deciding this point themselves. The prisoner was conducted to the _auto-da-fe_ on the 9th of December, and suffered the punishment of whipping; he was then transferred to the common royal prison.

After he arrived there, he wrote to his judges, declaring himself incapable of serving in the galleys. The tribunal revised the judgment, and sent him to the house of _Mercy_. This proceeding displeased the fiscal, who protested against it, saying, that the office of the judges did not extend beyond the sentence, and that they had not the right of commuting the punishment, without the consent of the inquisitor-general; the affair stopped here, and Francis had been sufficiently punished for his indiscretion to render him more cautious for the future.

The irregularity and disorder of the proceedings of this tribunal may be seen still more clearly in another trial before the Inquisition of Murcia, about the same time, and which was undertaken in consequence of the depositions of Guillen. It was inst.i.tuted against _Melchior Hernandez_, a merchant of Toledo, which place he afterwards left to establish himself at Murcia. As he was descended from the Jews, he was suspected of being attached to the religion of his ancestors. After being taken to the secret prisons from the informations of seven witnesses, he had his first audience of _admonition_ on the 5th of June, 1564; he was accused of having frequented a clandestine synagogue in Murcia, from 1551 to 1557, when the a.s.sembly was discovered; and of having acted and discoursed in a manner that proved his apostasy. Two witnesses afterwards appeared, and the accused having denied all the charges, the publication of the nine deponents was given to him: he persisted in his denial, and by the advice of his defender, alleged that the evidence of the witnesses could not be admitted, as they contradicted each other, and several of them were known to be his enemies.

To prove this, and to challenge some other persons, he presented a memorial which was admitted, although it was afterwards considered to have failed in disproving the charges.

A new witness was heard, when Melchior fell dangerously ill. On the 25th of January, 1565, he made the sacramental confession, and on the 29th demanded an audience, when he said that his memory was bad, but he remembered being in a house in 1553, where a number of persons, whom he named, were a.s.sembled; he denied having uttered anything concerning the law of Moses, and that the only thing he could reproach himself with, was not having declared that the others had made it the subject of conversation.

Four days after, he declared that all that had been said in the a.s.sembly was spoken in jest. Several days after this he said that he had not heard what these persons said; and that he had affirmed the contrary, because the witnesses had deposed to that effect.

Another witness, who was in the prison, was produced, who deposed, that after Melchior had written his memorial, he formed a plan of escaping, and endeavoured to induce his companions to accompany him. The procurator-fiscal read to him the act of accusation, and he denied all that it contained.

At this period, the visitor Don Martin de Coscojales arrived, and examined the prisoner, who affirmed that if he had said anything, he was induced to do it from the fear of death. The advocate made his defence; Melchior wrote a memorial, which he read to his judges, in which he challenged several persons as if they had deposed against him.

On the 24th September, 1565, Melchior suffered the _question in caput alienum_, with the view of making him confess what he knew of some suspected persons, but he bore it without speaking. On the 18th of October he was declared to be a Jewish heretic, guilty of concealment in his judicial confession, and condemned to _relaxation_, as a false penitent and obstinate heretic.

Although the sentence was p.r.o.nounced, it was resolved to press Melchior once more to reveal the truth. The _auto-da-fe_ was to be celebrated on the 9th of December, 1565; he was exhorted on the 7th; he replied that he had confessed all he knew; yet, when he was told on the 8th to prepare for death, he demanded an audience, and declared that he had seen and heard the suspected persons and several others, and that they spoke of the law of Moses, but that he considered these conversations to be of no consequence, and a mere pastime.