Inquisition in Spain—Inquisitors—Vicars—Counsellors—Promoters-Fiscal—Notaries—Treasurer—Executor—Familiars—Cross-Bearers—Visitors—Privileges—Jurisdiction—Prohibition of books—Prison-keepers.
Inquisition in Spain—Inquisitors—Vicars—Counsellors—Promoters-Fiscal—Notaries—Treasurer—Executor—Familiars—Cross-Bearers—Visitors—Privileges—Jurisdiction—Prohibition of books—Prison-keepers.
Spain, Portugal, and Rome have been most notorious for cruelty, by means of the dreaded court ofinquisition. The “Holy Office,” in those countries, has been the most extended, and the most complete in its arrangements; its ministers, therefore, have been most numerous. The number of officers in the Spanish Inquisition has been reckoned at aboutthree thousand, and its expense to the country aboutone million of poundssterling per annum!
District courts were formed in many places, of which it is said, “In every province of Spain there ought to be two or three inquisitors, one judge of the forfeited effects, one executor, three notaries, one keeper of the prison, one messenger, one door-keeper, and one physician. Besides these, assessors, skilful counsellors, familiars and others,” were appointed for the service of this court. These require some notice, the better to understand the character of the Inquisition.
1.Inquisitors Apostolic.—These are the chief officers, delegates from the Pope, for the special service of judging heretics. Their rank is exalted in the papacy, as each has the title of “lord,” and every inquisitor is styled “most reverend.” One among those in Spain was president of the Inquisition, and was called “inquisitor-major,” or “inquisitor-general.” The Romish cardinals, also, were inquisitors-general.
2.Vicars.—These are appointed by the inquisitors, to serve as their substitutes in case of absence or sickness, and these exercise all the power of their principals, in receiving accusations, and arresting those who may be accused.
3.Counsellors.—These were skilful lawyers,appointed to advise and assist the inquisitors, who were generally ignorant of legal forms. They were sworn to secrecy.
4.Promoter-Fiscal.—This officer also is a lawyer, whose business is to examine the depositions of witnesses, to give information against criminals, to demand their imprisonment, and to frame their indictment against them. He was a kind of counsellor for the Holy Office.
5.Notaries.—These officers were short-hand writers, whose duty was to attend the examinations of the prisoners, to note down everything they said, their behaviour, and even change of countenance, while questioned by the inquisitors. They are required to be skilful in different languages; as the prisoners may be French, German, or Italian, before a Spanish Inquisition.
6.Treasurer.—This officer is called, in Spain, thereceiver-generalof the effects and property of the prisoners: in Rome he is called,treasurer of the Holy Office. He takes charge of all the effects of the prisoners, letting or selling their lands and houses; so that immense property falls into his hands.
7.Executor.—This officer is the head of the police attached to the Inquisition; and he directs the mode of the apprehension of accused persons.
8.Officials.—These are assistants to the executor, or police officers, who pursue and apprehend the persons accused before the inquisitors.
9.Familiars.—These are armed police officers, or soldiers of the Inquisition. They are calledfamiliars, or belonging to the inquisitor’s family.
10.Cross-bearers.—These also are soldiers, a kind of militia, trained and armed for the defence of the Inquisition, and for the vigorous pursuit of offenders. They are favoured with many privileges, including a “plenary remission of all their sins,” to encourage them in the service of the Inquisition. Soldiers having, however, become less needful, these officers have generally been transformed into an order of monks of St. Dominic, with constitutions confirmed by the Pope.
11.Visitors.—These were magistrates appointed to inspect all the provinces of the inquisitors, and to report the state of the institutions to the inquisitor-general. They are commonly commissioned as occasions seem to require investigation.
12.Privileges of Inquisitors.—Extraordinary are the privileges granted to inquisitors; so that “no delegate of the apostolic see, or sub-delegate under him, no conservator, or executor, deputed by the Pope, shall be able to publish the sentence of excommunication, suspension, or interdict against them, or their notaries, whilst they are engaged in the prosecution of their duty, without the special command of the holy see.” The inquisitors only, and not the bishops, can publish edicts against heretics. In like manner, the inquisitors, and no others, can absolve from excommunication for heresy; and persons under the interdict by the inquisitor, cannot be absolved by the ordinary, or any other person, without the command of the Pope, except in the article of death.
13.Jurisdiction of the Inquisition.—This isso ample, that few persons are excepted from it; because the inquisitors being judges delegated by the Pope in the cause of the faith, that all heresy may be extirpated, power is given to them against all sorts of persons, except bishops and legates of the Pope. They may proceed against priests and clergy generally; and laymen without distinction, infected, suspected, or defamed of heresy, not excepting princes and kings. Even treaties with, or the power of, sovereigns, the inquisitors have set at nought, if they would yield to the assumed authority. Of this we have a remarkable instance in the king of Portugal, where Thomas Maynard was English consul. He was arrested and imprisoned at Lisbon, as having spoken against the Romish religion. When Oliver Cromwell was advised of the fact, the protector sent an express to the deputy, Mr. Meadows, to go to the king and demand his immediate release; but the sovereign professed that he had no power to grant the favour, as he had no authority over the Inquisition. But Cromwell sent new instructions, requiring from the king his instant liberation, or he declared war against the Inquisition. The terrified inquisitors offered the consul his liberty, which he accepted only on being brought forth honourably and in public by the Inquisition. This was at once granted, and Mr. Maynard continued unmolested, during the reigns of Charles II. and James II., well-known at Lisbon.
14.Prohibition of Books.—From time to time lists of books have been published by the Popes, as forbidden to be read, and these haveespecially included the Holy Scriptures, as fatal to the pretensions of the papal hierarchy and the Inquisition. One of the rules of the “Index” of prohibited books, regarding the Bible, says, “Since it is plain by experience, that if the Sacred Writings are permitted everywhere, and without difference, to be read in the vulgar tongue, men, through their harshness, will receive more harm than good. Let the bishop or inquisitor determine, with the parish priest or confessor, to whom to permit the reading of the Bible, translated by Catholic authors in the vulgar tongue.” This rule against the Bible is observed in all Catholic countries, especially in Spain, where the inquisitors published their prohibition, with a particular stress upon the Scriptures, “with all parts of them, either printed or manuscript, with all summaries and abridgments, although historical, of the said Bible, in the vulgar tongue.”
15.Keepers of the Prisons of the Inquisition.—Some bishops in the Romish church have prisons for the custody of offenders of their laws. But such places were usually placed under the care of inquisitors as their keepers. Every person imprisoned is first accused by some one, generally by two persons, who has heard him utter or suspects him of holding opinions that are deemed heretical. This accusation being received, the promoter-fiscal demands before the inquisitors that such person may be imprisoned and brought to trial. A warrant is then issued, subscribed by the inquisitors, and given to the officer, who proceeds to arrest the person and lodge him in gaol. This gaol, though ahorrid place, is called, in Spain and Portugal,Santa-casa, orHoly-house.
In Portugal, all the prisoners, men and women, without any regard to birth or rank, are shaved, the first or second day of imprisonment. Every prisoner has two pots of water daily, one to wash and the other to drink, and a besom to cleanse his cell; a mat of rushes to lie on; and a larger vessel for other uses, with a cover to put over it, which is changed every four days.
How intolerant and cruel the inquisitors and keepers were, in the sixteenth century, may be learned from two cases: the first was relating to some English persons who put into the port of Cadiz. The familiars of the Inquisition searched the vessel on account of religion. They seized several on board, as they manifested evangelical piety, and they were thrown into gaol. Among these was a child, about ten or twelve years of age, son of a rich gentleman, owner of the ship and part of the cargo. The pretence was, that he had in his hands the Book of Psalms in English. The ship and cargo were confiscated, and the child was imprisoned at Seville, where he lay six or eight months, and became very ill through cruel treatment. The lords inquisitors being informed of his illness, and hoping to profit by his father’s reputed wealth, removed him to the Cardinal Hospital. But he lost the use of his legs. The gaoler often observed him lifting up his eyes to heaven and praying for help; so that he reported him as “already grown a great little heretic!” Through the cruel treatmentin the prison, he died in the hospital of the Inquisition!
Another case, about the same period, will illustrate the cruelties of the Inquisition. Peter ab Herera, keeper of the tower of Triada, the prison of the Inquisition, had in charge a good matron, and, with her, two daughters, but kept in different cells. They bemoaned their separation, and entreated the keeper to suffer them to be together for a quarter of an hour, that they might have the satisfaction of embracing each other. Moved with compassion for them he granted their request; and after they had indulged their mutual affection for half an hour, he locked them up again in their solitary cells. A few days after, they were examined by torture, and the keeper, fearing that through the severity of their torments they might discover his lenity to the lords inquisitors, went to the holy tribunal and declared what he had done; but they, instead of commending his humanity, regarded him as guilty of a crime, and immediately ordered him into gaol, and to torture. After a year of suffering he was brought out of prison, with a halter round his neck, and led in a public procession, punished with ahundredlashes, and condemned to the galleys as a slave, for six years. He became insane through ill treatment, and attempting the life of the alguazil he was sentenced to four years additional slavery in the galleys! Dreadful as these are, they are far from being the most affecting examples of cruelty in the Inquisition.
16.Terrors of the Inquisition.—No wordscan express the dread of the people regarding the tribunal of the inquisitors. They regard the prisoners as lost. So little hope have they of the release of those arrested, that as soon as they are imprisoned, their friends put on mourning, and speak of them as dead, not daring to petition for their pardon, lest they also should be brought in as accomplices, and become themselves victims of the Inquisition!
Edict of Faith—Process at Tribunal—Arrest—Examination—Bill of accusation—Prisoner’s counsel—Escaped persons—Process terminated—Abjuration of a penitent—Penance.
Edict of Faith—Process at Tribunal—Arrest—Examination—Bill of accusation—Prisoner’s counsel—Escaped persons—Process terminated—Abjuration of a penitent—Penance.
Ecclesiasticalprocesses are entered upon with remarkable solemnity, particularly in the court of the inquisition. The court having been set up under the authority of the sovereign, and with full protection to its officers, a commissary is appointed, for the purpose of receiving information or accusations from any persons against others, under the authority of the chief inquisitor. Public preparations are made, therefore, for the commencement of proceedings against them on account of alleged crimes.
1.The Edict of Faith.—Some Sunday is appointed by the chief inquisitor, for a sermon on the solemn publication of the object of the court, and this is called the “Edict of Faith.” After the sermon by the inquisitor, on the duty of extirpating heresy, a monitory letter is read, requiring all persons, on pain of excommunication, to discover to the inquisitor, within six or twelve days, any heretics known to them, or persons suspected of heresy. Magistrates are made to promise the same upon oath. This edict of faith is repeated every year in the chief city; and from its obligations no one is freed: so that Joan, the daughter of the Emperor Charles V., was counselled by her father to make the required deposition, even if it were against himself, and she immediately deposed against a certain person before the inquisitor-general, the archbishop of Seville.
2.Process before the Tribunal.—There are three ways of proceeding—first, byaccusation;secondly, bydenunciation;thirdly, byinquisition, orseekingout heretics. Witnesses are summoned, and the testimony of a wife, of sons, of daughters, and of domestics, is received against, but not in favour of, persons accused of heresy. The testimony of persons guilty of perjury, and of women known to public infamy, and even of outlaws, is allowed. Their depositions are taken in writing concerning the characters and opinions of prisoners.
3.Arrest of the Accused.—Persons accused of heresy, living in cities, are usually arrested in the dead of night, by familiars of the Inquisition.They proceed to the dwelling of the accused, who is required immediately to rise and follow them to a carriage in waiting. Resistance is useless; and people stand so much in awe of the hated court, that parents deliver up their children, husbands their wives, and masters their servants, to its officers, without daring to murmur in the least degree; the prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, generally for a long time, till they are convicted of any crime of which they may have been guilty.
4.Examination of Prisoners.—After solemn prayer to the Holy Spirit has been read, the prisoner is brought before the inquisitor in the chamber of audience. He beholds at a table on his right hand the judge-inquisitor, at the farther end sits the notary, and the unhappy victim, with his arms and feet naked, and his head shaved and uncovered, is allowed to sit on a form at the lower end of the table. Opposite to him, against the wall, is fixed a large crucifix, reaching nearly to the ceiling. He is then interrogated by the inquisitor, who employs every possible artifice to induce him to make confession of every thing that he may have said or done against the Catholic faith. In Spain and Portugal, the inquisitor sometimes sends a person to visit him, exhorting him, as a friend, to make confession, that he may obtain the favour of his judge, and not be separated for ever from his wife and children. Many are thereby induced to confess fictitious crimes, in the vain hope of obtaining liberty.
5.Bill of Accusation.—The promoter-fiscal exhibits the bill of accusation against the prisoner, thus,—“I,N., fiscal of the office of the Holy Inquisition, do, before you, the reverend inquisitor, delegated judge in causes of the faith against heretical pravity, criminally accuseM., who being baptised a Christian, and accounted such among all persons, hath departed from the Catholic faith.” Their various crimes are specified in grievous terms. The witnesses are examined in private, and only their testimony exhibited against the prisoner. This iniquitous course is uniformly pursued. So that the New Christians, as the conforming Jews in Spain were called, in vain offered Charles V. the sum of 80,000 pieces of gold, if he would order the witnesses against some of them to be made known at the tribunal of the Inquisition. In some cases, prisoners are allowed to appeal from the inquisitor, before the trial has proceeded to the definitive sentence.
6.Course for the Prisoner.—If the prisoner deny his guilt, he is allowed to select an advocate from a list provided by the inquisitors, but paid from the effects of the accused. If under twenty-five years, he is allowed a curator or guardian.
7.Accused Persons escaped.—If an accused person flee from the court, or escape from prison, he is publicly cited in the cathedral, in the parish church, and in his own house, and the temporal lord is required to arrest him: if this fail, he is excommunicated; and, if taken, he is whipped and proceeded against with increased severity.
8.The process Terminated.—Sentences are pronounced according to the decisions of the inquisitors. Those declared innocent are absolved; and those suspected are subjected to abjuration, purgation, fines, or banishment. When the prisoner is defamed for heresy, but not found guilty by legal evidence or his own confession, he is required to submit to canonical purgation, in severe penances imposed by the bishop. Those of high reputation among the people—as bishops, priests, and preachers—are mostly enjoined some purgation: and those who are condemned, are declared to have been heretics or apostates, and to have incurred the penalties according to law; his effects are confiscated; his opinions and writings are condemned; and he is deprived of all ecclesiastical or public offices and honours, while he is delivered over to the secular power to be punished. If he persist in his opinions, sentence is immediately pronounced, and he is committed to officers to be burnt. The greatest severity is exercised against the Lutherans, as they are regarded as the most decided enemies of the papacy.
9.Abjuration of a Penitent.—A heretic, against whom an information has been laid, confessing his heresy to the bishop or inquisitor, promising to return to the bosom of the church, abjuring all heresy, is not delivered to the secular power, but punished by the inquisitors. He is compelled to abjure publicly, before all the people in the church; where he is required to place his hands on the book of the Gospels, with his headuncovered, and, falling on his knees, to read a form of solemn abjuration, or to repeat it while it is read by the notary. When this is done, he is absolved from excommunication, on condition of his returning, with a true heart and sincere faith, to observe all the commands of the Catholic church; but if he do not observe them, he forfeits the benefits of his absolution. In this manner abjuration is enjoined upon all who return from heresy, even boys of fourteen and girls of twelve years of age are not excused, especially persons of dignity and rank as priests; and doctors, whom they calldogmatists,dogmatisers, andarch-heretics.
10.Penances of those who abjure.—Though abjuration reconciles to the church, still penance is required as a wholesome punishment. In some cases a penitent is required to make a pilgrimage, with a black habit, carrying the inquisitor’s letters, which must be brought back with letters testimonial from the predicant friars, or other official personages, as certifying the truth of such visit. In other cases, a penitent is required to walk in a procession, destitute of all clothes, except a shirt and breeches; and in this condition to receive public discipline by the bishop or priest, to be expelled the church, and to stand with a lighted candle in hand, bare feet, and a halter about his neck, at its principal gate, during the time of solemn mass, on some holy day, or as the bell was ringing for Divine service. Others are punished by public whipping with rods, and if ecclesiastics by their own fraternity, in the presence of the notary of the HolyOffice. But the most common punishment is wearing crosses upon their penitential garments, by which they become exposed to the scoffs and insults of the people. He that throws off this garment is more severely punished, some for the whole of life; from which it is difficult to procure release without money, on the application of friends to the chief inquisitors.
Torture to force confession—Hall of Torture—Stripping—Binding—Squassation—Fire-pan—Rack—Horse—Dice—Wet cloth—Various devices.
Torture to force confession—Hall of Torture—Stripping—Binding—Squassation—Fire-pan—Rack—Horse—Dice—Wet cloth—Various devices.
Prisonersin the Inquisition are of different characters; and many of them naturally deny their guilt. Others would only in part confess their faults and crimes, employing different terms in successive examinations. Others again, being innocent of the criminality with which they were charged, could not confess or acknowledge that they were guilty. While others, holding fast the doctrine of Christ, were willing rather to suffer death than deny the Gospel of their Lord and Saviour.
If the prisoner do not confess according to the deposition of the witnesses against him, or do not satisfy the inquisitors, torture is employed, chieflyto induce the accused to confess regarding friends or associates, who may hold opinions deemed heretical. Determined to humble their victims, they employ extensively a most cruel system of torture, the records of which have justly procured for the Inquisition the character ofsanguinaryanddiabolical. Surely, none but the evil spirit, “the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning,” could have devised such revolting methods of cruelty, and prompted men, with the most ingenious devices, so to outrage all the dictates of humanity, as to act on the system which was the practice of the Romish inquisitors. They yet attempt its justification on the plea that “Paul delivered the Corinthian to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Cor. v. 5.) Paul inflicted no bodily tortures, but such is the Romish perversion of the Scriptures.
These tortures of the Inquisition it will be necessary here briefly to describe, that the character of the atrocious system may be the more clearly understood by the reader.
1.The Hall of Torture.—This, in Spain, is a subterraneous chamber, in the centre of the prison, so that the cries of the sufferer may not be heard by any one outside. It is entered by a passage through several doors; at one end of it a tribunal is erected, on which the inquisitors, the inspector, and the notary are seated. The lamps being lighted in this dark room, the prisoner is brought in and delivered to the executioner, who makes a dreadfulappearance; as he is covered all over with a black linen garment down to his feet, and tied close to his body, while his head and face are all hidden with a hood, having in it only two small holes, through which he may see. All this is intended to strike terror into the miserable wretch, when he sees himself in the power of one who has the appearance of an infernal spirit.
Those who are employed as torturers are required to be such as are born of “ancient Christians,”—undoubted Catholics; and they are sworn to secresy as to what is said and done in this terrible place of punishment.
2.Stripping.—All who are tortured are stripped naked, both men and women, without regard to decency or honour; and the prisoner has no clothing except a pair of linen drawers. This process, to some, is an inexpressible torment. While he is being stripped, he is exhorted to confess and declare all the truth, being admonished that if he should die under the torture, the judges would be clear from blame, which would rest alone with himself, as a criminal. The notary present writes down everything that is said or done in the act of torture. If the inquisitors are not satisfied with the confession, the prisoner is threatened with various punishments, the instruments of which he is shown in the hall.
3.Binding.—This is done by cords, fastening the hands behind the back, the wrists bound together, with weights tied to the feet; so that it is impossible for the prisoner to extricate himself from the power of the executioner.
4.The Pulley.—By this instrument, the hook being passed under the rope at the wrists, the victim is drawn up till his head reaches near the pulley, fixed to the roof of the hall. Thus he is suspended; so that by the weight of the body, with what is hung at the feet, all the joints of the emaciated frame are dreadfully stretched, and the bones dislocated.
5.Squassation.—This is performed by a jerk of the rope, but without allowing the body being suspended from touching the ground. By this a terrible shake is given to the whole frame, and the arms and legs disjointed, by which the sufferer is put to the most exquisite pain. The shock which is thus received oftentimes occasions death. Romish authors observe on this mode, “When the senate orders, ‘Let him be interrogated by torture,’ the person is lifted or hoisted up, but not put to the squassation. If the senate orders, ‘Let him be tortured,’ he must then undergo the squassation at once, being first interrogated as he is hanging upon the rope and engine. If it orders, ‘Let him be well tortured,’ it is understood that he must suffer two squassations. If it orders, ‘Let him be severely tortured,’ it is understood of three squassations, at three different times within an hour. If it says, ‘Very severely,’ it is understood that it must be done with twisting, and weights at the feet. When it says, ‘Very severely, even unto death,’ then the criminal’s life is in immediate danger.”
6.The Fire-pan.—This was applied to the prisoner while he was fastened in the stocks, when afire-pan, full of burning charcoal, was brought near to the soles of his feet. These were rendered increasingly susceptible of pain, by being rubbed with grease; so that they would literally be fried, and the suffering be most excruciating. During the process, the prisoner was exhorted to confess; and if he promised this, a board was put between his feet and the fire; but if he did not satisfy them, the board was removed, and the torture renewed. The Rev. Archibald Bower, once an inquisitor, but afterwards a clergyman in the church of England, states, that frequently the inquisitors and other officers, regardless of the groans and tears of the unhappy sufferer, converse before him on city news, or add insult to his misery while entreating by all that is sacred for a moment’s relief from the dreadful torment.
7.The Rack.—Several instruments were so called: one was a plank with a windlass attached, having two pulleys. The prisoner, nearly naked, placed with his back on the board, was drawn by a rope tied to the iron ring on each wrist; so that his arms were drawn until they were dislocated, producing extreme agony to the victim.
8.The Horse.—This was a frame of wood—a sort of trough, across which was a round bar, like the step of a ladder. On this bar the prisoner was laid, with his feet elevated higher than his head. He was then bound to the horse by a cord drawn thrice round each arm, and the same round each leg. By means of sticks, after the manner of screws, the cord being twisted, it was thus tightened, and, cutting into the flesh, much bloodshed was caused. The rope was then removed to the sounder parts, and the torture repeated, producing excruciating agony.
9.The Dice.—Sometimes iron dice were fastened to the heels of the feet, when screws were forced through the flesh till they reached the bones, producing indescribable suffering.
10.The Wet Cloth.—The prisoner, while bound to the horse, in some cases, had thrown over his face a thin cloth, forming a bag to pass into his mouth, so that he was scarcely able to breathe; and, at the same time, a very small stream of water was directed to fall into the mouth, sinking the bag down his throat. Six or seven English pints of water have been thus poured into one person, and the convulsive agonies produced were like a sense of suffocation. Sometimes the cloth was removed from the face, to allow the wretched victim to answer the questions proposed by the inquisitors; when the pain occasioned by the pulling up of the bag from the throat was as if the bowels were being drawn through the mouth, and it was found to be soaked with blood as well as with water. In his struggling efforts to breathe, the sufferer would rupture a blood-vessel, and, in not a few instances, die under the horrid torture.
Various other modes of cruelty were employed in some courts, according to the will of the inquisitors. Some used canes put between the fingers, which were then pressed together, so as to dislocate the joints, and occasion exquisite pain. Otherstied small cords round the thumbs, so tightly as to force blood from under the nails. Red-hot irons were pressed upon the naked breasts, and iron slippers heated were put on the feet, so as to burn the flesh to the bone. And in perpetrating these enormities, especially on the persons of women, the inquisitors behaved in the most inhuman and revolting manner, indicating the execrable character of the Romish “mystery of iniquity.”
Victims—1. Juan de Salas—2. Donna Johanna Bohorques—3. Donna Maria Bohorques—4. Melchior Hernandez—5. Lewis Pezoa.
Victims—1. Juan de Salas—2. Donna Johanna Bohorques—3. Donna Maria Bohorques—4. Melchior Hernandez—5. Lewis Pezoa.
“Justice and Mercy” are the words chosen by the Romish Inquisition, as forming the maxims of that court, in proceeding against heretics. But the tortures inflicted falsify the profession. No court of judgment, in any age or nation, was ever found so utterly at variance with these principles, or conducted in a manner so manifestly opposed to equity and humanity. A few selected cases of their tortured victims will still further illustrate the diabolical savageness of the inquisitors: these cases are given from the most undoubted authorities.
1.Juan de Salas.—This victim was a young man, and it appears an officer of the Inquisition in Spain. He had been charged with employing the language of heresy, and therefore immured in the dungeon. The Inquisition transgressed their own rules in relation to him, refusing to hear the witnesses whom he wished to be examined in his favour. He positively denied having used the words attributed to him; on which account he was subjected to the torture, to compel his confession. The particulars of his sufferings under the inquisitors, Moriz and Dr. Alvarado, are contained in the following record, drawn up by the notary of the Inquisition:—
“At Valladolid, on the 21st of June, 1527, the licentiate Moriz, inquisitor, caused the licentiate Juan de Salas to appear before him. After the reading, the said licentiate Salas declared thathe had not said that of which he was accused; and the said licentiate Moriz immediately caused him to be conducted to the chamber of torture, where, being stripped to his shirt, Salas was put by the shoulders into thechevalet, where the executioner, Pedro Porras, fastened him by the arms and legs with cords of hemp, of which he made eleven turns round each limb. Salas, during the time that the said Pedro was tying him thus, was several times warned to speak the truth; to which he always replied thathe had never said what he was accused of. He recited the creed ‘Quicumque vult,’ and several times gave thanks to God and our Lady; and, the said Salas being still tied as before mentioned, a fine wet cloth was put over his face, and about a pint of water was poured into his mouth and nostrils from an earthen vessel, with a hole at the bottom, and containing about two quarts; nevertheless, Salas persisted in denying the accusation. Then Pedro Porras tightened the cord on the right leg, and poured a second measure of water on the face; the cords were tightened a second time on the same leg, but Juan de Salas still persisted in denying that he had ever said any thing of the kind; and, although pressed to tell the truth several times, he still denied the accusation. Then the said licentiate Moriz having declared thatthe torture was begun, but not finished, commanded that it should cease. The accused was withdrawn from thechevalet, orrack, at which I, Henry Paz, was present from the beginning to the end.—Henry Paz, Notary.”
Juan de Salas was condemned, notwithstanding his denial; and Llorente makes the following remarks on the whole case of shocking injustice and cruelty:—
“We may form an idea of the humanity of the Inquisition at Valladolid from the definitive sentence pronounced by the licentiate Moriz and his colleague, Dr. Alvarado, without any other formality, after they had taken (if we may believe them) the advice of persons noted for their learning and virtue, but without the adjournment which ought to have preceded it, and without the concurrence of the diocesan in ordinary. They declared that the fiscal had not entirely approved the accusation, and thatthe prisoner had succeeded in destroying some of the charges; but that, on account of the suspicion arising from the trial, Juan de Salas was condemned to the punishment of the publicauto da fé, in his shirt, without a cloak, his head uncovered, and with a torch in his hand; that he should abjure heresy publicly; and that he should pay ten ducats of gold to the Inquisition, and fulfil his penance in the church assigned. It is seen, by a certificate afterwards given in, that Juan de Salas performed hisauto da féon the 24th of June, 1528, and that his father paid the fine. The trial offers no other peculiarity. This affair, and several others of a similar nature, caused the supreme council to publish a decree, in 1558, commanding that the torture should not be administered without an order from the council.”
2.Donna Johanna Bohorques.—Limborch, from Gonsalvius, gives the following account of this noble young lady, who was really murdered by the inquisitors in their tortures of her, aboutA.D.1569.
“At the same time almost, they apprehended, in the Inquisition at Seville, a noble lady, Johanna Bohorques, the wife of Don Francis de Vargos, a very eminent man, and Lord of Heguera, and daughter of Peter Garsia Xeresius, a wealthy citizen of Seville. The occasion of her imprisonment was, her sister, Maria Bohorques, a young lady of eminent piety, who was afterwards burnt for her pious confession, had declared, in her torture, that she had several times conversed with her sister concerning her doctrine. When she was first imprisoned she was about sixmonths gone with child, upon which account she was not so straitly confined, nor used with that cruelty which the other prisoners were treated with, out of regard to the infant she carried. Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the fifteenth shut her up close, and made her undergo the fate of the other prisoners, and began to manage her cause with their usual arts and rigour. In so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious young woman, who was afterwards burnt for her religion by the inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion. This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture; and being returned from it into her gaol, she was so shaken, and had her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she was laid upon her bed of rushes, it rather increased her misery than gave her rest, so that she could not turn herself without the most excessive pain. In this condition, as Bohorques had it not in her power to show her any, or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind with great tenderness. The girl had scarcely begun to recover from her torture, when Bohorques was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the very bones in several places; and in this manner she was brought back to prison, just ready to expire, the blood running out of her mouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch that the eighth day after her torture she died. And when,after all, they could not procure sufficient evidence to condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial arts—yet as the accused person was born in that place, where they were obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and, indeed, could not, by any means, dissemble it—in the first act of triumph appointed after her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in these words:—‘Because this lady died in prison (without doubt suppressing the cause of it), and was found to be innocent upon inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the fiscal, and absolving her from any further process, doth restore her, both as to her innocence and reputation, and commands all her effects, which had been confiscated, to be restored to those to whom they of right belonged.’ And thus, after they had murdered her, by torture, with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent!”
Llorente adds, “Under what an overwhelming responsibility will these monsters appear before the tribunal of the Almighty!”
This instance of refined barbarity in the inquisitors strikingly displays their hypocrisy as professors of the benevolent religion of Christ, and their malignity against those who dared to listen to the doctrines of the Scriptures, then condemned under the name ofLutheranism.
3.Donna Maria Bohorques.—This lady was sister of Johanna, who had been murdered in theInquisition. She perished in the flames at Seville. The account of her states, “She had completed her twenty-first year when she was arrested on suspicion of being a Lutheran. Under the instruction of D. Juan Gil, bishop of Tortosa, she was perfectly acquainted with the Latin language, and had made considerable progress in Greek. She knew the Gospel by heart, and was deeply read in those commentaries which explain, in a Lutheran sense, the text referring to justification by faith, good works, the sacraments, and the characteristics of the true church.
“Donna Maria was confined in the secret prisons of the Inquisition, where she avowed the doctrines imputed to her, defended them against the arguments of the priests who visited her, and boldly told the inquisitors, that instead of punishment for the creed which she held, they would do much better to imitate her example. With regard to the depositions of her accusers, though she allowed the principal points, she persisted in denying some things which related to the opinions of other individuals; and this denial gave the inquisitors an opportunity of putting her to the rack. By this torture they only procured a confession that her sister, Johanna Bohorques, knew her sentiments, and had not disapproved of them; and, as she persisted in her confession of faith, sentence was passed upon her as an obstinate heretic. In the interval between her condemnation and theauto da fé, at which she was to suffer, the inquisitors made every exertion to bring her back to the Romish faith. They sentto her, successively, two Jesuits and two Dominican priests, who laboured with great zeal for her conversion; but they returned without having effected their object, full of admiration of the talents she displayed, and regretting the obstinacy with which she persisted in what they supposed a damnable heresy. The evening before theauto da fé, two Dominicans joined in the attempt, and were followed by several theologians of other orders. Donna Maria received them with civility, but dissuaded them from attempting the hopeless task. To the professions which they made of being interested in the welfare of her soul, she answered, that she believed them to be sincere, but that they must not suppose that she, being the party chiefly concerned, felt a less interest in the matter than they did. She told them, that she came to prison fully satisfied of the orthodoxy of the creed which she held, and that she had been confirmed in her belief by the evident futility of the arguments brought against it.
“At the stake, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, who had abjured the Lutheran doctrines, exhorted Donna Maria to follow his example. The weakness of this apostate for a moment overcame her, and she silenced him by language rather of contempt than of pity. Recollecting herself, however, she told him that the time for controversy was past, and that their wisest plan would be, to occupy the few minutes which remained to them, in meditating on the death of their Redeemer, in order to confirm that faith by which alone they could bejustified. All that poor Juan Ponce de Leon gained by his apostacy was, that he was not burnt alive, but first strangled, and then burnt. On this occasion, the attendant priest, moved by the youth and talents of Donna Maria, offered her this milder death, if she would merely repeat the Creed. With this offer she readily complied; but having finished it, she began immediately to explain its articles, according to the sense of the reformers. This confession of faith was immediately interrupted. Donna Maria was strangled by the executioner, and her body was afterwards reduced to ashes!”
4.Melchior Hernandez.—This victim was a merchant of Toledo, whence he removed to settle,A.D.1564, in Murcia, where he was arrested by the officers of the Inquisition, charged with Judaism. Witnesses, known to be his enemies, appeared against him, but their evidence was contradictory; yet he was detained in prison. Being dangerously ill, he demanded an audience of the inquisitors, to whom he said that he had been present at a meeting, a year before, where the subject of conversation was the law of Moses. Some days after, at his re-examination, he declared that what was said at the meeting was in jest, and he did not recollect the particulars of the conversation. Having said to the visitor of the tribunal that the things which he had declared, he had been induced to utter before his judges by the fear of death, he was put to the torture, to compel him to confess what he knew respecting certain persons; but he bore the cruel infliction without uttering a word.On the 18th of October, 1565, he was declared, as a Jewish heretic, to be guilty of concealment in his confession, and condemned to be burnt. His execution was fixed for the 9th of December; and on the 7th he was exhorted to a full confession. He replied, that he had confessed all he knew; and the next day, being desired to prepare for death, he declared that he had seen the persons whom he had mentioned, and some others at the meeting; that they conversed respecting the law of Moses, but that he regarded their communications as mere pastime. Between this and the commencement of theauto da fé, next day, he made several communications, in hope of escaping death, giving the names of various parties as his accomplices. This disclosure being unavailing to induce the inquisitor to suspend his execution, Melchior stated that he had really believed, for a year, what had been preached in the synagogue, though he had not confessed the fact, because he thought there was no proof of heresy in the depositions of the witnesses. His execution was suspended, and he was subjected to new examinations, at which he made extraordinary and contradictory statements, perplexing to his judges; three of whom voted for his punishment and two for his reconciliation. The council decreed that Melchior should be burnt on the 8th of June, 1567; and on each of the three preceding days he was called up, and exhorted to declare his accomplices. The habit of a prisoner to be burnt was put upon him, when he declared that he could name other accomplices, and an inquisitor went toreceive his confession. He gave another synagogue, and seven other places, with the names of fourteen persons who frequented them. This not being deemed satisfactory, he was led, with others, to the place of execution, where he mentioned two more houses, and twelve heretics; in asecondaudience, he gave seven more persons; and in athirdaudience, two more houses, and six persons. He was again remanded, as he hoped; but on the 23rd of June, despairing of success, he appealed to his judges, “What more could I do than accuse myself falsely? Know that I have never been summoned to any assembly; that I never attended any but for the purposes of commerce.” After many audiences, he was for the third time sentenced for execution, and he again succeeded in escaping the fire. In five subsequent audiences he denounced various persons; but he was declared “still guilty of concealment, in not mentioning several persons not less distinguished and well known than those already denounced, and that he could not be supposed to have forgotten them.”
Overcome by this malignant suggestion, Melchior delivered an indignant invective against the inquisitors, and all who appeared on the trial, and then said, “What can you do to me?—burn me? Well, then, be it so. I cannot confess what I do not know. All that I have said of myself is true, but what I have declared of others is entirely false. I invented it,because I perceived that you wished me to denounce innocent persons; and being unacquainted with the names and quality of theseunfortunate people, I named all whom I could think of, in the hope of finding an end to my misery. I now perceive that my situation admits of no relief, and I therefore retract all my depositions; and now, having fulfilled this duty, proceed to burn me as soon as you please.” The papers relating to the trial were sent to the supreme council, which confirmed the sentence of burning, and reprimanded the inquisitors for the delay. Instead of submitting to this decision, the inquisitors called Melchior again before them, representing to him that his declarations contained many contradictions, and that, for the good of his soul, it was necessary that he should finally make a confession, respecting himself and all his guilty acquaintances. This artful appeal did not shake his constancy. Melchior affirmed that they would find all the truth in the declaration that he had made before the visitor, Senor Ayora. It was found in this that Melchior had stated, that “he knew nothing of the subject on which he was examined.” The inquisitor then said, “How can this declaration be true, when you have several times declared that you have attended the Jewish assemblies, believed in their doctrines, and persevered in the belief for the space of one year, until you were undeceived by a priest?” Melchior replied, “I spoke falsely when I made a declaration against myself.” “But how is it,” said the inquisitor, “that what you have confessed of yourself, and many other things, which you now deny, are the result of the depositions of a great many witnesses?” “I do not know,” replied Melchior,“if that is true or false, for I have not seen the writings of the trial; but if the witnesses have said that which is imputed to them, it wasbecause they were placed in the same situation as I am. They do not love me better than I love myself; and I have certainly declared against myself both truth and falsehood.” “What motive had you, then,” asked the inquisitor, “in declaring things injurious to yourself, if they were false?” Melchior declared, “I expected to derive great advantage from them, because I saw that if I did not confess anything, I should be considered as impenitent, and the truth would lead me to the scaffold. I thought that falsehood would be most useful to me, and I found it so in twoautos da fé.”
Nothing was now to be expected but death, and he was desired, on the 6th of June, 1568, to prepare for it by the next day. At two o’clock in the morning he desired an audience with the inquisitor, who, with his notary, went to his cell. Melchior then said to him, “That at the point of appearing before the tribunal of the Almighty, and without any hope of escaping from death by new delays, he thought himself bound to declare that he had never conversed with any person on the Mosaic law; that all he had said on this subject was founded on the wish to preserve life, and the belief that his confessions were pleasing to the inquisitors; that he asked pardon of the persons implicated, that God might pardon him, and that no injury might be done to their honour and reputation.”
Melchior Hernandez was, therefore, sacrificed to the bigotry of the inquisitors, first being strangled and then burnt. As to his inventions and false accusations of others, nothing can justify him; but such endeavours to escape from the dreadful tribunal appear to be common among the unhappy prisoners of that horrid court which knows no mercy.
5.Lewis Pezoa.—About the year 1650, Lewis Pezoa, a new Christian, his wife, and two sons, and one daughter, besides some relations living with him, were all thrown into the gaol of the Inquisition in Portugal. They were accused by some of their enemies of being Jews. Pezoa denied the charge, and refuted it, but in vain; he demanded that his accusers might be discovered to him, that he might convict them of falsehood. He was condemned, as a negative heretic, to be delivered over to the secular court to be burnt. This was made known to him fifteen days before the sentence was pronounced by the court.
Pezoa being a man of wealth, the Duke de Cadaval knew him, and desired to know, from his intimate friend, the Duke d’Aviera, inquisitor-general, how he would be treated; and understanding that unless he confessed before his going out of prison, he would not escape the fire, because he had been convicted according to the laws of the Inquisition, he entreated, and obtained from the inquisitor-general a promise, that if he could persuade Pezoa to confess, even after sentence was pronounced, and his procession in the act of faith,he should not die, though it was contrary to the laws. Upon that solemn day, therefore, on which the act of faith was held, he went with some of his own friends, and some of Pezoa’s, to the Inquisition, to prevail on him, if possible, to confess. He was led forth in the procession, wearing the infamous attire and the mitre, indicating the sacrifice of his life. His friends, with many tears, besought him, in the name of the Duke of Cadaval, and by all that was dear to him, that he would preserve his life, and intimated to him, that if he would confess and repent, the duke would give him more than he had lost, as he obtained his life on that condition from the inquisitor-general. But all in vain; Pezoa continually protesting himself innocent, and that the accusation was the contrivance of his enemies, who sought his destruction, as guilty of crimes. When the procession was ended, and the act of faith almost finished, the sentences of those who were condemned to certain penances having been read, and, on the approach of evening, the sentences of those who were to be delivered over to the secular court being begun to be read, his friends repeated their entreaties, by which they overcame his constancy at last; so that, desiring an audience, and rising up, that he might be heard, he said, “Come, then, let us go and confess the crimes I am falsely accused of, and thereby gratify the desires of my friends.”
Having made confession, he was remanded to gaol. But, two years after, he was sent to Evora, and walked in procession in another act of faith,wearing the infamous garment, on which was painted the fire inverted, according to the usual custom of the Portuguese Inquisition; and after five years more, in which he was detained in the gaol of the Inquisition, he was condemned to the galleys, as a slave, for five years.
TheAuto da Fé—Act of Faith at Madrid—Act of Faith at Lisbon—Testimony of Rev. Mr. Wilcox.
Theauto da fé, oract of faith, in the Romish church, is a grand ceremony performed by the Inquisition, for the punishment of heretics, and the absolution of those who have been declared innocent. It is usually contrived to fall on great festivals of the church, that the whole procedure may strike the spectators with the utmost awe. Theauto da fémay be calledthe last act of the inquisitorial tragedy. It is a kind of gaol delivery, as often as a competent number of prisoners in the Inquisition are convicted of heresy, either by their own voluntary or extorted confession, or on the testimony of certain witnesses. The process is generally as follows:—
In the morning, the prisoners are brought into a great hall, where they put on certain habits, whichare to be worn in the procession, and from which they know their doom. The procession is led forth by Dominican friars, after whom come the penitents, being all in black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with wax candles in their hands. These are followed by those penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, and who, over their black coats, have flames painted, with their points turned downwards. Next come thenegativeandrelapsed, who are doomed to be burnt, having flames on their habits pointing upwards. After these come such as profess doctrines contrary to the faith of Rome, who, besides flames pointing upwards, have their pictures painted on their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, as in a fury. Each prisoner is attended by a familiar of the Inquisition; and those to be burnt, have also a Jesuit on each hand urging them to abjure. After the prisoners, there follow a troop of familiars on horseback, and then the inquisitors and other officers of the court, on mules: last of all, the inquisitor-general on a white horse, led by two men with black hats and green hatbands.
On the occasion, a scaffold is erected large enough for two or three thousand persons; at one end of which are the prisoners, at the other the inquisitors. After a sermon, made of encomiums on the Inquisition, and invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the scaffold, and having taken the abjuration of the penitents, he recites the final sentence of those who are to be put to death, and delivers them to the secular arm, earnestly beseeching theauthorities not to touch their blood, nor to put their lives in danger! The prisoners, being thus in the hands of the civil magistrate, are presently loaded with chains, and carried first to the secular gaol, and thence, in an hour or two, brought before the civil judge; who, after asking in what religion they intend to die, pronounces sentence on such as declare they die in the communion of the church of Rome, that they shall be first strangled, and then burnt to ashes! or such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive! Both are immediately carried to a place of execution, where there are as many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with fuel of dried furze. The stakes for the professed, or such as reject the Romish faith, are about four yards high, having a small board near the top for the prisoner to be seated on. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed mount their stakes by a ladder, and the Jesuits, after several repeated exhortations to be reconciled to the church, retire, telling them that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them to the flames of hell. On this, a great shout is raised, the cry being “Let the dogs’ beards be made;” that is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened on long poles, against their faces, till they are scorched, and every feature destroyed; and this is accompanied with the loudest exclamations of savage joy. At last, fire is set to the furze at the bottom of the stake, over which the victim is, chained so high that the flame can scarcely reachthe seat, and the sufferer is thus made to endure a roasting. There cannot be a more lamentable spectacle; the sufferers cry out, as long as they are able, “Pity, for the love of God!” or such-like appeals for mercy and sympathy; yet it is beheld, by both sexes of the superstitious populace, with transports of joy and satisfaction, illustrating the genuine spirit of Popery.
ACT OF FAITH AT MADRID, A.D. 1680.
Spain and Portugal, more than any other countries, have been governed on the principles of Popery. To learn its true genius, we must look at the horrid ceremony of burning dissenters, under the designation of heretics. The following account relates to the act of faith celebrated in honour of Charles II., on the occasion of his public entry into Madrid, after his marriage,A.D.1680.
Charles II., of Spain, was bornA.D.1662, and ascended the throne at nearly the age of four years, October 7, 1665. In February, 1680, he married Maria Louise of Orleans. This was publicly celebrated under the direction of the priesthood, with all possible magnificence at Madrid, and anact of faithby the Inquisition, May 3, 1680.
A month before the general execution, the officers of the Inquisition, preceded by their standard, rode with great solemnity from the palace of the Holy Office to the open square, where, in the presence of crowds of people, they proclaimed, by sound of trumpet and kettle-drums, that on that day month,an act of faith, or general execution of the heretics, would be exhibited. The proclamation being over, extensive preparations were made for the dreadful solemnities, under pretence that the horrid sacrifice was in honour of the blessed Jesus and his religion, the Gospel of peace. Previous to this bloody solemnity, a scaffold, fifty feet long, was erected in the great square, and raised to the same height, with a balcony upon it with seats for the king and queen and royal family. At the end, and along the sides, seats were placed, as an amphitheatre, in view of the king, for the council of the Inquisition. On one side, under a splendid canopy, a rostrum was elevated for the grand-inquisitor; and at the opposite side was an elevated platform, on which the prisoners were required to stand. In the centre of the scaffold were erected two enclosures, or cages, open at the top, enclosing the prisoners while sentence of death was pronounced on them. Three pulpits also were erected, two of which were for the use of those who read the sentence, and the third for the preacher; and, lastly, an altar was erected near the rostrum, where the several counsellors sat. The seats, on which their Catholic majesties sat, were ranged so that the queen was at the king’s left hand, and on the right the queen-mother. The rest of the whole scaffold was filled with the ladies of honour of both queens; balconies were likewise erected for the foreign ambassadors, and for the lords and ladies of the court, and scaffolds also for the people.
On the solemn day, a month after the proclamation, the ceremony opened in the following order. The march was preceded by a hundred coal-merchants, armed with pikes and muskets, indicating their being under obligation to furnish fuel for the burning of the criminals. These were followed by Dominican friars, before whom a white cross was carried. Behind them came the Duke of Mendini Celi, carrying the standard of the Inquisition, a privilege hereditary in his family. The standard was of red damask, on one side of which was represented a drawn sword in a crown of laurels, and the arms of Spain on the other. Then was brought forward a green cross, covered with black crape, which was followed by several grandees and other persons of quality, familiars of the Inquisition, wearing black cloaks, marked with black and white crosses, edged with gold wire. The march was closed by fifty halbardiers or guards, belonging to the Inquisition, clothed with black and white garments, and commanded by the Marquis of Ponar, hereditary protector of the Inquisition in the province of Toledo.
The procession having marched in this order before the palace, proceeded to the square, when the standard and the green cross were placed on the scaffold, where none but the Dominicans remained, the rest having retired. These Dominican friars had spent the night in chanting psalms, and several masses were celebrated on the altar from day-break until six in the morning. About an hour after, the king, the queen, and the queen-mother, with all the royal family, the lords, ladiesand officers of the court, made their appearance, and at eight o’clock ascended the scaffold. The coal-merchants placed themselves on the left of the king’s balcony, and his guards stood on the right. Afterwards came thirty men carrying images of pasteboard, as large as life, some representing those who had died in prison, and whose bones were brought in chests, with flames painted on them, and the rest those who had escaped and were outlawed.
These figures were placed at one end of the amphitheatre, and then came twelve men and women with ropes about their necks, torches in their hands, and pasteboard caps on their heads, three feet high, on which were written their crimes. These were followed by fifty others, having also torches in their hands, and clothed with yellow great coats, on which were crosses of St. Andrew X., behind and before. These were Jews, who had repented of their crimes, and desired to be admitted into the church as believers in Jesus Christ. Next came twenty Jews of both sexes, who had relapsed thrice into their former errors, and were condemned to the flames. Those who had given some tokens of repentance were to be strangled before they were burnt; but the rest, for having persisted in their errors, were to be burnt alive. These last wore linen garments, with devils and flames painted on them, and caps after the same manner. Five or six among them, who were more obstinate than the rest, were gagged, to prevent their uttering what the Roman Catholics call blasphemous tenets.
Such as were condemned to die, were surrounded each by four Dominicans and two familiars of the Inquisition. These unhappy creatures passed, in the manner above related, under the king of Spain’s balcony, and after having walked round the scaffold, were placed in the amphitheatre that stood on the left, and each of them surrounded by the monks and familiars who had attended them. Some of the grandees of Spain were among these familiars, and they, consistently with their usual national pride, seated themselves on high benches erected for the purpose. The clergy of St. Martin’s parish, coming forward, placed themselves near the altar; the officers of the supreme council of the Inquisition, the inquisitor, and several other persons of distinction, both regulars and seculars, all on horseback, with great solemnity, arrived afterwards, and placed themselves on the right hand of the amphitheatre, and on both sides of the rostrum in which the grand-inquisitor was to seat himself. The grand-inquisitor came last, dressed in a purple habit, accompanied by the president of the council of Castile, and several other officers, who, on this occasion, would have been reckoned among the number of heretics, had they not become the more than obsequious slaves of the priests.
Then they began to celebrate mass; in the midst of which, the priest who officiated went down from the altar and seated himself in a chair, which had been placed for him. The grand-inquisitor came down from his seat, and having saluted the altar, and put the mitre on his head, he advanced towardsthe king’s balcony. Then he went up the steps that stood at the end of the balcony, with several officers, who carried the cross and Gospels, and a book containing the oath by which the kings of Spain obliged themselves to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and to support the holy Inquisition to the utmost of their power.
The king, standing up bareheaded, having on one side of him a grandee of Spain, holding the royal sword with the point upward, swore to observe the oath which a counsellor of the Inquisition had just read to him. The king continued in this posture till such time as the grand-inquisitor was returned back to his seat, where he took off his pontifical vestments. Then one of the secretaries of the Inquisition ascended a pulpit appointed for that purpose, and read an oath to the same purport, which he administered to all the grandees who were then present; and this part of the ceremony was followed by that of a Dominican going up into the pulpit, and delivering a sermon full of flattery in praise of the Inquisition.
About two o’clock in the afternoon they began to read the sentences of the condemned criminals; and they began with those who had died in prison, or who had been outlawed. Their figures in pasteboard were carried up to the little scaffold, and put into the cages, and then they read the sentences to each of the criminals who were alive, and they were, one by one, put into the cages, in order that every person present might know them. There were, in all, twenty persons, of both sexes, condemned to the flames; and of these, six men and two women could not be prevailed on either to confess or repent of their errors. A young woman was remanded to prison because she had always made the strongest protestations of her innocence, and therefore they thought it would be proper to re-examine the evidence that had been produced against her. Lastly, they read the sentences of those who had been found guilty of bigamy, or witchcraft, with several other crimes, and this lasted till about nine in the evening, when mass was finished.
Mass being finished, the grand-inquisitor, clothed in his pontifical vestments, pronounced a solemn absolution on all those who would repent; and then, the king being withdrawn, the criminals who had been condemned to be burnt, were delivered over to the civil power, and, being mounted upon asses, were carried in this manner through the gate called Foncural. About three hundred paces from it they were chained to stakes, and executed a little after midnight. Those who persisted in their errors were burnt alive; but such as repented, were first strangled before the fire was lighted. Those condemned to lesser punishments were remanded to prison, and the inquisitors returned home to their palace!
To us, in our enlightened times, it must appear very astonishing, that proceedings so inhuman and shocking could be witnessed and sanctioned by a great monarch and his mighty nobles. Yet these outrages continued, but not without complaintsagainst the Inquisition from some of the nobility and statesmen, so that no less than 9,216 victims of that court are reckoned in the reign of Charles II., fromA.D.1666 toA.D.1700: of these, 1,728 were burnt to death; 576 were burnt in effigy; and 6,912 were subjected to severe penances, in Spain.
ACT OF FAITH AT LISBON, A.D. 1682.
Dr. Michael Geddes, an eminent English divine, and chaplain to the factory at Lisbon for several years, until he was apprehended by the Inquisition in 1686, when he was interdicted from officiating in his ministerial capacity, and returned to England, witnessed anauto da fé, in 1682, and he describes it as follows:—
“In the morning of the day, the prisoners are all brought into a great hall, where they have the habits put on they are to wear in the procession, which begins to come out of the Inquisition about nine of the clock in the morning. The first in the procession are the Dominican friars, who carry the standard of the Inquisition, which on the one side hath their founder Dominic’s picture, and on the other side, a cross between an olive leaf and a sword, with this motto,Justitia et Misericordia. Next after the Dominicans come the penitents, some withbenitos, some without, according to the nature of their crimes; they are all in black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax candle in their hand. Next come the penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, who, over their blackcoat, have flames painted, with their points turned downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so as by fire: this habit is called by the Portuguesefuego revolto, or flames turned upside down. Next come the negative and relapsed, that are to be burnt, with flames upon their habit, pointing upward; and next come those who profess doctrines contrary to the faith of the Roman church, and who, besides flames on their habit, pointing upward, have their picture, which is drawn two or three days before, upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all with open mouths, painted upon it. Pequa, a famous Spanish inquisitor, calls this procession,Horrendum ac tremendum spectaculem; and so it is in truth, there being some things in the looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to be burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate, beyond what can be imagined; and in the eyes and countenance of those that are to be burnt, there is something that looks fierce and eager.
“The prisoners that are to be burnt alive besides a familiar, which all the rest have, have a Jesuit on each hand of them, who are continually preaching to them to abjure their heresies; but if they offer to speak anything in defence of the doctrine, for professing which they are going to suffer death, they are immediately gagged, and not suffered to speak a word more. This I saw done to a prisoner presently after he came out of the gates of the Inquisition, upon his having looked up to the sun, which he had not seen before for several years, and cried out in rapture, ‘How is it possiblefor people to behold that glorious body, to worship any being but Him that created it?’ After the prisoners come a troop of familiars on horseback, and after them the inquisitors, and other officers of the court, upon mules, and last of all comes the inquisitor-general, upon a white horse, led by two men, with a black hat and a green hatband, and attended by all the nobles that are employed as familiars in the procession.
“In theTerceiro de Paco, which may be as far from the Inquisition as Whitehall is from Temple Bar, there is a scaffold erected, which may hold two or three thousand people; at the one end sit the inquisitors, and at the other end the prisoners, and in the same order as they walked in the procession, those that are to be burnt being seated on the highest benches behind the rest, and which may be ten feet above the floor of the scaffold. After some prayers, and a sermon, which is made up of encomiums on the Inquisition, and invectives against heretics, a secular priest ascends a desk, which stands near the middle of the scaffold, and who, having first taken all the abjurations of the penitents, who kneel before him, one by one, in the same order as they walked in the procession, at last he recites the final sentence of the Inquisition upon those who are to be put to death, in the words following:—