The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand Part 38

All the events above-mentioned were occasioned by the trial of Antonio Perez, but the original cause was the extreme attachment of the Aragonese to a privilege which Philip II. wished to destroy, because it set bounds to his despotism; they had not forgotten that this prince made use of the Inquisition, in his political schemes, which they had experienced in some attempts made twenty years before.

The insurrection offered to Philip the opportunity he had so long desired, of making himself absolute monarch of Aragon, by the abolition of the intermediate office of the chief justice, and of all the _Fueros_ of the primitive const.i.tution, which bounded the extent of his power.

Another cause of the revolt was, the policy which disgraced and kept in a perpetual state of uneasiness, all the first families of the kingdom, a great number of the second order, and even of the people. It was well known that these misfortunes were the consequence of the system of the inquisitors, who were always eager to disgrace and humiliate those who did not debase themselves before the lowest among them, and to sacrifice every man who did not acknowledge their tribunal to be the most holy of inst.i.tutions, and the only bulwark of faith, which they still declare and publish through their partisans, though in their hearts they are convinced of the contrary.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

OF THE PRINc.i.p.aL EVENTS IN THE INQUISITION DURING THE REIGN OF PHILIP III.

Philip II. died on the 13th of September, 1598, and left the crown to his son, Philip III., whose education had made him more worthy of wearing the habit of St. Dominic, than of governing a kingdom: the Inquisition was then as formidable and powerful as before the const.i.tutions of 1561. As the new king wished to have an inquisitor-general of his own choice, he took advantage of a bull, commanding all bishops to reside in their dioceses, to invite Don Pedro Porto-Carrero to retire to his see of Cuenca, and appointed as his successor, in 1599, Don Ferdinand Nino de Guevara, cardinal of the Roman Church, and afterwards archbishop of Seville. This prelate retired to his diocese in 1602, in consequence of an order from the king; his successor was Don Juan de Zuniga, bishop of Carthagena, who died in the same year. Juan Baptiste de Acebedo, bishop of Valladolid, took his place, and died in it in 1607, with the t.i.tle of Patriarch of the Indies. He was succeeded by Don Bernardo de Sandoval Roxas, cardinal archbishop of Toledo, brother to the Duke de Lerma. At his death Don Fray Louis Aliaga, a Dominican confessor to the king, was appointed inquisitor-general; Philip IV., on his accession, deprived him of his office.

Philip III., in 1607, a.s.sembled the Cortes of the kingdom at Madrid, where they remained for more than a year. The members represented to the king, that in 1579 and 1586, they had required a reform of the abuses committed in the tribunal of the Inquisition, to put an end to the right, which the inquisitors had usurped, of taking cognizance of crimes not relating to heresy; that Philip II. had promised to do this, but died before he could perform it, and that in consequence they renewed the request.

Philip replied, that he would take proper measures to satisfy the Cortes. In 1611, when he convoked the new Cortes, they made the same request and received the same answer, but nothing was attempted, and the inquisitors daily became more insolent, and filled their prisons with victims.

The archbishop of Valencia, Don Juan de Ribera, represented to Philip III., that it was impossible to convert the Morescoes of Valencia, and that their skill in agriculture and the arts gave just cause of apprehension, that they might some day disturb the public tranquillity, with the a.s.sistance of the Moors of Algiers, and the other African cities, with whom they held constant intercourse; he therefore advised his majesty to banish them from the kingdom.

The gentlemen whose va.s.sals the Morescoes were, complained of the immense loss it would occasion, if their estates were thus depopulated; they also declared that the statement of the archbishop was shamefully exaggerated, since the holy office had never failed to punish every Moresco who returned to his heresy.

The king summoned his council, and after many discussions, it was resolved to send the Morescoes out of the kingdom of Valencia, on the 11th of September, 1609, and all the others in the following year.

This emigration cost Spain a million of useful and industrious inhabitants, who all went to Africa: they were invited by Henry IV. to colonise the _Landes_ in Gascony on condition that they professed the catholic religion, but they feared that they should be persecuted in the same manner, at some future period. The inquisitors princ.i.p.ally contributed to induce Philip III. to take this resolution, and they noted all who had condemned the measure, as suspected of heresy: among these was the Duke of Ossuna, whose process they began. This trial had no particular result, because the charges did not offer any heretical propositions, though some were qualified as audacious, scandalous, and offensive to pious ears. The duke was appointed Viceroy of Naples, but was deprived of the office some years after, and imprisoned by the king.

The inquisitors seized this opportunity to renew their charges, but they were disappointed; the duke died in prison before the definitive sentence was p.r.o.nounced.

On the 7th and 8th of November 1610, the Inquisition of Logrono celebrated an _auto-da-fe_, in which six persons were burnt, with five effigies, twenty-one individuals were reconciled, and twenty condemned to different penances; among these were eighteen sorcerers[73].

A sufficient number of the trials of the Inquisition, during the reign of Philip III., have already been cited; therefore, that of Don Antonio Manriques, Count de Morata, need only be mentioned: in 1603 he abjured some heretical propositions without being disgraced by an _auto-da-fe_.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

OF THE TRIALS AND AUTOS-DA-FE DURING THE REIGN OF PHILIP IV.

Philip IV. ascended the throne on the 31st of March, 1621; and during the thirty-four years that he reigned, the following persons filled the office of inquisitor-general: Don Andres Pacheco, in 1621; Cardinal Don Antonio de Zapata Mendoza, in 1626; in 1632, Don Fray Antonio de Sotomayor; and in 1643, Don Diego de Arce y Reinoso. Don Diego died on the same day as the king.

Many circ.u.mstances had shewn the necessity of a reform in the Inquisition, but the indolence of Philip IV. prevented him from attempting it; on the contrary, he permitted the inquisitors to take cognizance of the offence of exporting copper money, and to dispose of a fourth of what fell into their hands.

On the 21st of June, 1621, the Inquisition celebrated the accession of Philip IV. by the _auto-da-fe_ of Maria de la Conception, a _Beata_, and famous hypocrite of the preceding reign, who had deceived many persons by her feigned revelations and pretended sanct.i.ty. She appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ gagged, with the _san-benito_, and the mitre.

On the 30th of November, 1630, another _auto-da-fe_ was held at Seville, when six persons were burnt in effigy, and eight in person; fifty were reconciled, and six absolved _ad cautelam_.

On the 21st of December, 1627, a general _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated at Cordova, composed of eighty-one condemned persons; fifty-eight were reconciled, among whom were three sorcerers.

In 1532, a grand general _auto-da-fe_ was held at Madrid, at which the king and all the royal family attended. Seven persons were burnt, with four effigies, and forty-two reconciled; they were almost all Portuguese, or of Portuguese parents. The following circ.u.mstance has rendered this _auto-da-fe_ very famous. Miguel Rodriguez, and Isabella Martinez Albarez, his wife, were the proprietors of a house used by the condemned as a synagogue. They were accused of having struck the image of Jesus Christ with a whip, and of having crucified and insulted it in various ways, as if to revenge themselves upon it for all the evils which the Christians made them suffer. The holy office caused this house to be razed to the ground, and an inscription was placed on the spot. A monastery for the Capuchins was afterwards built on the site, and named the Convent of Patience, in allusion to the outrages which our Saviour allowed them to commit on his image: a report was then spread that the image spoke to the Jews three times, and that they did not hesitate to burn it. Solemn ma.s.ses were performed at Madrid and other cities in the kingdom, to expiate the sacrilege which had been committed.

On the 22nd of June, 1636, another general _auto-da-fe_ was held at Valladolid, composed of twenty-eight persons. The punishment inflicted on the Jews seems entirely novel: one hand was nailed to a wooden cross, and in that state they were obliged to hear read the report of their trial, and the sentence which condemned them to perpetual imprisonment for having insulted our Saviour and the Virgin by their blasphemies. A _Beata_ also appeared in this _auto-da-fe_; she was known by the name of _Lorenza_: her crimes were the same as those of the other women of her cla.s.s; she pretended that she had seen apparitions of the Devil, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, and an infinity of revelations, but she was, in fact, nothing but a libertine woman.

Another _Beata_, who was more celebrated, appeared before the tribunal of Valladolid, she was called _Louisa de l'Ascension_. M. Lavellee has spoken of the fragments of the cross which had belonged to this woman, in his history of the Inquisition, published at Paris in 1809. This author (_who has only added to the errors of the writers of the two last centuries_) says, that this cross was one of those which the inquisitors suspended round the necks of the condemned. This practice was never known in the Inquisition; the cross belonged to the _Beata_. M. Lavellee has not explained the inscription correctly. I have seen a cross entire; on the upper part are the letters I. N. R. I., which are the initials of _Jesus Nazarenius Rex Judaeorum_; on the mounting and on the arm, and towards the foot, are these words--_Jesus. La Tres Sainte Marie, concue sans peche originel. Soeur Louise de l'Ascension, esclave indigne de mon tres doux Jesus. Jesus. Maria santissima concibida sin pecado original. Indigna soror Luisa de la Ascencion, esclava de dulcisimo Jesus_. This _Beata_ gave similar crosses to those who, deceived by her reputation for sanct.i.ty, came to demand her prayers. This cross being once given, the wish to possess them became so general, that they were engraved and became the occasion and the subject of a trial: the Inquisition caused all that could be found to be remitted to them, and thus several were to be seen at Madrid and Valladolid.

Louisa de l'Ascension must not be confounded with the hypocrites and false devotees, such as Mary de la Conception, Lorenza de Simancas, Magdalena de la Croix, and some others, who were vicious women. The constant virtue of Louisa was acknowledged by the nuns of St. Clara de Carrion, and by the inhabitants of that place and of the country.

On the 23rd of January, 1639, there was a general _auto-da-fe_ at Lima in Peru, in which seventy-two persons appeared. Eleven persons were burnt, and one effigy. In this _auto-da-fe_ were seen, on elevated seats, six persons who had been accused by false witnesses.

The cities of Toledo, Cuenca, Grenada, and Seville, also celebrated _autos-da-fe_ in 1651, 1654, and 1660, when many persons were burnt.

Besides the public _autos-da-fe_ and trials mentioned in the Chapters 24, 25, and 26, several others worthy of notice took place in the reign of Philip IV. Don Rodrigo Calderona, Marquis de Siete Inglesias, secretary to Philip III., was prosecuted by the Inquisition, which had not time to condemn him, because he was beheaded at Madrid in 1621, according to the sentence of the royal judges. The inquisitors accused him of having bewitched the king, in order to gain his favour. This charge was also brought against him by the fiscal of the civil tribunal of Madrid, but the judges paid no attention to it. It is certain that Calderona was the victim of a court intrigue, and the Count Duke de Olivares did an irreparable injury to his memory, in coldly witnessing the execution of a man, who, during his favour, had rendered him great services.

Don Fray Louis Aliaga, archimandrite of Sicily, confessor to Philip III., and inquisitor-general, resigned his place by the command of Philip IV.; and a short time after Cardinal Zapata had succeeded him, he was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Madrid, for some propositions suspected of Lutheranism and materialism. Aliaga died in 1626, when his trial had not advanced further than the preparatory instruction.

In the year 1645, the Inquisition of Madrid prosecuted Don Gaspard de Guzman, Count Duke de Olivares, favourite and prime-minister to Philip IV. This took place under the ministry of the inquisitor-general, Don Diego de Arce, on whom he had bestowed the bishoprics of Tui, Avila, and Placencia. Don Diego did not forget his benefactor, and it was to his prudence that the duke owed the favourable issue of an affair, which, in other hands, might have had the most fatal result.

This minister was disgraced in 1643: a short time after, memorials were presented to the king, accusing him of the most heinous crimes. The tribunal, where every false report was received, also seized this opportunity to prosecute him; he was denounced to the Inquisition as a believer in judicial astrology; and as a proof that he was an enemy to the church, it was a.s.serted that he attempted to poison Urban VIII.; the apothecary at Florence, who prepared the poison, and the Italian monk, who was to administer it, were mentioned; in fact, proofs were offered of all the crimes he had committed. The inquisitors commenced the preparatory instruction, but their proceedings were so dilatory, that the Count Duke died before the order for his arrest could be issued.

The Jesuit, Count Juan Baptiste de Poza, occupied the Inquisitions of Spain and Rome for some time with his writings, during the reign of Philip IV., particularly from the year 1629 to 1636. I have spoken in Chapter 15 of the memorial presented by the university of Salamanca against the Jesuits, in order to prevent the imperial college of Madrid, which was under the direction of these fathers, from being made an university; Poza wrote several pamphlets in defence of the pretensions of his order, which were all condemned by the Inquisition of Rome in 1632. The enemies of the Jesuits hoped that the Spanish Inquisition would do the same, but the inquisitors were afraid of offending the Count Duke de Olivares, whose confessor was a Jesuit. At this period, Francis Roales, doctor of the university of Salamanca, almoner and councillor of the king, professor of mathematics, and preceptor to the Cardinal-infant Don Ferdinand, published a work which created a great sensation. The author denounces the writings of Poza to the Catholic Church in general, and to each of its members in particular, as heretical and tainted with atheism, and also denounces all the Jesuits who defended his doctrine.

Urban VIII. would have p.r.o.nounced Poza to be an heretic, if he had not feared to offend the Court of Madrid; he therefore contented himself with depriving him of his professorship, and commanding that he should be sent to a house of the Jesuits, in some small town in Castile, and forbade him to preach, teach, or write. Although the Jesuits in their fourth vow, promised to obey the Pope without restriction, and they were, generally speaking, the most zealous supporters of his authority, yet, in this instance, they refused to obey, because they were supported by the Court of Madrid. At this time the work of Alphonso Vargas[74] was published out of Spain; Vargas exposes the stratagems, the perfidious politics, and the bad doctrine of the Jesuits. Their general alleged, as an excuse for their disobedience, that they were forbidden to execute the orders of his Holiness by the king of Spain: this was the state of the affair when Olivares was disgraced. The works of Poza were then prohibited in Spain, and he was condemned to abjure several heresies.

Juan Nicolas Diana, another Jesuit, known for the very relaxed morals of his printed works, was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Sardinia for some propositions contained in a sermon, and was condemned to recant.

The Jesuit published his defence, and went to Spain where he demanded to be tried by the Supreme Council. The Council, after taking the opinions of several qualifiers, annulled the sentence, and not only acquitted the Jesuit, but made him a qualifier.

_Ali Arraez Ferrares_, surnamed the _Renegado_, was tried by the Inquisition of Sicily in this reign. He was a Moor of Tunis, and high in the favour of the king of that country: having been taken prisoner to Palermo, he was ransomed and sent back to Tunis. Some Christian slaves, who were in that city, expressed their surprise that an apostate had been ransomed instead of being sent to the dungeons of the Inquisition.

The tribunal, being informed of the opinion of these slaves, published that they were ignorant that Ali Arraez Ferrares had been a Christian, and that he was surnamed the _Renegado_. Ali was taken a second time in 1624, and though no other proof of his guilt existed but the report above-mentioned, he was taken to the prisons of the holy office. A great number of Sicilians, Genoese, and others, who had known him at Tunis, were examined; they all declared that he was called the _Renegado_, and some added that they had heard him say that he had been a Christian. Ali denied the fact, but the tribunal considered him as convicted, and condemned him to be burnt. The Supreme Council decided that the proof was not complete, annulled the sentence, and commanded that the prisoner should be tortured, in order to obtain additional proofs, and that the sentence should then be renewed. Ali still persisted in denying that he had been a Christian, and found means to inform the king of Tunis of his situation; the Moorish king received his letter at the moment when Fray Bartholomew Ximenez, Fray Ferdinand de Reina, Fray Diego de la Torre, and three other Carmelites, were brought in captive; they had been taken in going to Rome. The king commanded them to write to the inquisitors of Sicily to set Ali Arraez at liberty, and to accept his ransom, and, in case they refused, to inform them that he would imprison and torture all the Christian slaves in his power. The monks excused themselves by alleging that they did not know the inquisitors, and the affair was dropped. At this period the Supreme Council commanded that Ali should be confined in a dungeon and ironed. In 1628, Ali found means to convey another letter to the Moorish king, informing him that he was imprisoned in a dark and fetid dungeon, with a Christian captain, and that they were almost starved. When the king received the letter, the Spanish monks were negotiating their ransom. He sent for them, and said, "Why do they endeavour to make this renegado a Christian by their tortures? If this Inquisition is not suppressed, or if the inquisitors do not send the renegado immediately to the galleys with the other slaves, I will burn all the Christians who are in my power: write, and tell them so."

The monks obeyed, and added, that if justice and religion required the execution of the prisoner, they were ready to suffer martyrdom. The king of Tunis afterwards accepted the ransom of the monks. After detaining Ali for sixteen years, the inquisitors had no greater proof of his crime, and yet they refused to exchange him for a Christian priest, alleging that the relations of the priest ought to ransom him, and that it would be taking an active part in the heresy and d.a.m.nation of the renegado to set him at liberty: it was represented that their refusal might have the most fatal consequences to the Christian slaves at Tunis; but this consideration did not affect them.

An affair, which created a great sensation, occupied the Supreme Council at this time. A convent for Benedictine nuns had been founded in the parish of St. Martin. The director and confessor, Fray Francis Garcia was considered a learned and holy man. Donna Theresa de Sylva, whose relation had founded the convent for her, was the abbess, though only twenty-six years of age. The community was composed of thirty nuns, who all appeared to be virtuous, and had voluntarily embraced the monastic life. While the new convent enjoyed the highest reputation, the gestures and words of one of the nuns indicated that she was in a supernatural state: Fray Garcia exorcised her, and on the 8th of September she was p.r.o.nounced to be a demoniac. In a short time, the abbess and twenty-five nuns were attacked in the same manner. Many consultations took place on the condition of these women, between men of learning and virtue, who believed that they were really _possessed_,--their confessor repeated his exorcism every day, and even spent days and nights in the convent to renew them. He at last brought the tabernacle of the holy sacrament into the room where the nuns worked, and they said the prayers of forty hours. This singular scene lasted for three years, when the Inquisition of Toledo put a stop to it in 1631, by arresting the confessor, the abbess, and some of the nuns. Fray Francis Garcia was denounced as an _illuminati_, and it was said that he had corrupted the nuns, who pretended to be possessed. The trial was terminated in 1633; the confessor and the nuns were declared to be suspected of having fallen into the heresy of the _Alumbrados_. They were condemned to several penances, and sent to different convents; the abbess was exiled, and deprived of the privilege of consulting for four, and of voting for eight years: when this period had expired, she returned to her own convent, and was commanded by her superiors to demand a revision of her trial. The abbess obeyed, declaring at the same time, that she did it solely for the honour of her nuns and those of the other houses of St.

Benedict. The enterprise was difficult, but the power of her relation, the prothonotary of Aragon, and of the Count Duke de Olivares, overcame every obstacle. In 1642 the Supreme Council acknowledged the innocence of the nuns, but not of Fray Francis, became he had been so imprudent as to hold a correspondence with the demons to satisfy his curiosity, before he drove them from the nuns. Donna Theresa gives an account of her own feelings when possessed, and says that she was in a state of delirium, and did the most foolish things.

Don Jerome de Villanueva, prothonotary of Aragon, that is, the royal secretary of state for that kingdom, had, in his youth, been the secretary to the Inquisition. He was prosecuted by the tribunal on the disgrace of the Count Duke de Olivares, as his creature and princ.i.p.al confidant. Several heretical propositions were imputed to him, and he was arrested in 1645, and condemned to abjure: this sentence was p.r.o.nounced on the 18th of June, 1647. When he was set at liberty to accomplish his penance, he appealed to Pope Innocent X., complaining of the injustice with which he had been treated in depriving him of the means of defending himself, and protesting that he had only submitted to the sentence, that he might bring his cause before an impartial tribunal; he therefore demanded that his trial should be revised by judges appointed by his Holiness. Don Pedro Navarro, an opulent gentleman, went to Rome to negotiate the affair, out of friendship to Villanueva; and although Philip requested through his amba.s.sador that Navarro should be compelled to leave Rome, his Holiness refused, and would not allow him to be arrested. The Pope issued a brief of commission to the bishops of Calahorra, Segovia, and Cuenca, to revise the trial, but Philip IV., in consequence of the insinuations of the inquisitor-general, forbade them to accept the commission, because it was contrary to the prerogatives of the crown. The Pope then commanded that the process should be transferred to Rome; after some opposition he was obeyed, and Villanueva was acquitted. The resistance and the injustice witnessed by the Pope in this case induced him to expedite a second brief in 1653, in which he declared that he had discovered great irregularities in the trial of Villanueva, and charged the inquisitor-general to observe that the laws were more strictly followed, and the trials conducted with more justice, gravity and circ.u.mspection.

New contests soon arose between the Courts of Madrid and Rome, and the Pope sent Francis Mancini as his nuncio to Madrid, to settle the dispute, but he could not obtain an audience of the king, and in 1654 was obliged to apply in the name of his Holiness to the inquisitor-general, who told him that the Pope had offended the king in the affair above-mentioned; he a.s.serted that the prosecution of Villanueva had been properly conducted, and that the Pope had approved it. If this a.s.sertion was true, the Pope must have expressed his approbation before he took cognizance of the trial, for when it was transferred to the tribunal of Rome, the injustice and defects were discovered.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

THE INQUISITION DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES II.

Charles II. succeeded his father on the 17th of September, 1665, when he was only four years of age. The grand inquisitors, during his reign, were, Cardinal Don Pascual d'Aragon, archbishop of Toledo; Father John Everard de Nitardo, a German Jesuit; Don Diego de Sarmiento de Valladares, bishop of Oviedo and Placentia; Don Juan Thomas Rocaberti, archbishop of Valencia; Cardinal Don Alphonso Fernandez de Cordova y Aguilar; and Don Balthazar de Mendoza-Sandoval, bishop of Segovia.

The infancy of Charles II., the ambition of his brother Don John of Austria, the imperious temper of the queen-mother, Maria Anne of Austria, and the machiavelism of the Jesuit Nitardo, gave occasion for a number of scandalous events during this reign. The weakness of the government was the princ.i.p.al cause of the insolent conduct of the inquisitors.