Chapter 29

[380]Torquemada,op. cit., Lib.XV, cap. 1, 10.—Col. de Doc., Tom. XXVI, p. 286.See also a letter of the Franciscan Custodian Fray Angel de Valencia, to Charles V, May 8, 1552. If the description of his brother frailes by Fray Pedro Duran, in a letter to Philip II, Feb. 2, 1583, be not exaggerated, there was not much gained in restricting episcopal appointments to the regular Orders.—J. T. Medina, Historia de la Inquisicion en Mexico, pp. 11, 12 (Santiago de Chile, 1905).[381]Mendieta, Hist. eccles. Indiana, p. 549 (Mexico, 1870).[382]Amador de los Rios, Hist. de los Judíos, III, 378.[383]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 9, fol. 71.See also a letter from Alonzo de Zuazo to Chièvres, written from Hispañola, January 29, 1519, urging that immigrants be invited from all nations, except Moors and Jews and the reconciled New Christians with their children and grandchildren, who were prohibited by the royal ordinance.—Col. de Documentos, T. II, p. 371.[384]Lorenzana, Concilios Provinciales de Mejico, p. 32 (Mexico, 1769).[385]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.VII, Tit. v, ley 29.[386]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 3, fol. 106, 107.[387]Ibidem, Lib. 9, fol. 37.—Llorente (Añales, II, 91) states that Ximenes, May 7, 1516, appointed Juan Quevedo, Bishop of Cuba, as delegate inquisitor-general of the Indies, with power to appoint judges and other officials, but I can find no trace of such action and, if the appointment was made, it was ineffective. The first see erected in Cuba was that of Santiago, in 1522 (Gams, p. 146), and there could have been none as early as 1516, as the first expedition to the island under Diego Velázquez did not occur until 1511. Hefele (Der Cardinal Ximenes, p. 497) makes Ximenes appoint Alessandro Geraldino, Bishop of San Domingo and his colleague of la Vega inquisitors-general but, as we have seen, Geraldino was not appointed as bishop until 1522, four years after the death of Ximenes.[388]Remesal, Historia de la Provincia de S. Vicente de Chyapa y Guatemala, Lib.II, cap. iii.—Obregon, Mexico viejo, 1ª Serie, pp. 179-80; 2ª Serie, p. 390 (Mexico, 1891-5).[389]Obregon, México viejo, 2ª Serie, p. 333.It would seem that the sanbenitos were not hung in the cathedral until 1667, after pressure from the Suprema to compel the inquisitors to perform the work, which must have been considerable if they had to be compiled from the records. The number then hung amounted to 404.—Medina, Historia de la Inquisicion de México, p. 317.[390]Puja, Provisiones, Cédulas, Instrumentos de su Magestad etc., fol. 97 (Mexico, 1563).[391]Coleccion de Documentos, LXX, 535.—Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern. Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 9.[392]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 4.[393]Obregon,loc. cit.[394]Obregon,loc. cit.—Schäfer, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Spanischen Protestantismus, II, 373.[395]Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, p. 61.[396]Medina,op. cit., pp. 35-6.[397]Solorzaniop. cit., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 38.[398]Bulario de la Orden de Santiago, Lib.III, fol. 79, 123.[399]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 1.—Cf. Simancæ de Catholicis Institutionibus, Tit.XXXVIII, n. 12.[400]Relazioni Venete, Serie I, Tom. VI, p. 462.[401]This and the following details of the installation of the Mexican Inquisition I owe to a series of documents, copies of which were kindly furnished to me by the late General Don Vicente Riva Palacio.Doctor Moya de Contreras was an old and experienced hand. In 1541 he was appointed inquisitor of Saragossa.—Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Sala 40, Lib. 4, fol. 117.[402]Torquemada, Lib.XIX, cap. 29. For almost all the early inquisitors of Mexico the tribunal was the stepping-stone to the episcopate. Bonilla, who went, in 1571, as fiscal, became inquisitor in 1573 and Archbishop of Mexico in 1592. Alonso Granero, who went as inquisitor in 1574, became Bishop of Charcas the same year. Santos García was inquisitor in 1576 and Bishop of Jalisco in 1597. Alonso de Peralta, who was inquisitor in 1594, was made Archbishop of La Plata in 1609, and Lobo Guerrero, who was inquisitor in 1593, became Archbishop of Santafé in 1598.It illustrates the character of the men occupying these positions that when Granero left Mexico for his bishopric he went by land and in Nicaragua he assumed still to be inquisitor, condemning people and fining them to defray his travelling expenses. An unlucky notary named Rodrigo de Evora wrote some satiric couplets about him, whereupon he was thrown in prison with chains on hands and feet, tortured till he was crippled with dislocated joints and then exposed in a public auto and condemned to 300 lashes and six years of galleys. The scourging was administered with excessive severity and Evora had to beg his way to Mexico to appeal to the tribunal there. He evidently was stripped of his property and among other things of four cases of Chinese ware, which Granero appropriated to his own use.—Medina,op. cit., 76-78.[403]Medina,op. cit., p. 22.[404]See Appendix.[405]Mr. Elkan N. Adler has printed a translation of these special instructions furnished to Peru. Unquestionably the same provisions must have been established in Mexico.—Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 12.The inquisitors were empowered to call in the judges of the Royal Audiencia as consultors in theconsulta de fe.—Ibidem.[406]Medina,op. cit., p. 30.[407]Llorente, Hist. crít., cap. xix, art. ii. n. 18.[408]Medina,op. cit., p. 31.[409]Medina,op. cit., pp. 36-43.—Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, 84-90, 335-7.—Páramo de Orig. Officii S. Inquisit., p. 241. The “Cornelius the Irishman” of Miles Phillips’s narrative was not burnt until the auto of March 6, 1575. He was one of Hawkins’s men, who had married in Guatemala.—Medina, p. 51.[410]Obregon, p. 391. In the great auto of December 8, 1596, the sentence to relaxation of Manuel Díaz states that he is to be taken on horseback to the market-place of San Ipolito where, in the place provided for it, he is to be garroted and burnt.—Proceso contra Manuel Díaz, fol. 154 (I owe to the kindness of General Riva Palacio several of the original trials connected with this auto).[411]Medina,op. cit., pp. 49-55.[412]Torquemada, Lib.XIX, cap. 30.—Obregon, pp. 338-52.—Medina,op. cit., pp. 91-115, 123-36.[413]Páramo, pp. 241-2.—Proceso contra Manuel Díaz, fol. 71 (MS.penes me).—Obregon, p. 344. The fourth sister of Carvajal was burnt for relapse in the auto of 1601 and a fifth was reconciled (Medina, pp. 131-133).An incident of Carvajal’s trial illustrates the dread excited by the pitiless Peralta, who richly earned his archbishopric. After prolonged torture and confession, Carvajal endeavored to commit suicide and then asked for Lobo Guerrero to be sent for, to whom he explained that he had begged that Peralta should not be present “because the mere sight of him made his flesh creep, such was the terror with which his rigor inspired him.”—Adler, Trial of Jorje de Almeida (Publications of Am. Jewish Hist. Soc., IV, 42).The complaints against Peralta accumulated until the Suprema was compelled to formulate a process against him in which thesumariacontained thirty-two charges, not only of arbitrary cruelty but of prostitution of his office for illicit gain (Medina, p. 216); but this, as we have seen, did not prevent his promotion to the archiepiscopate of La Plata.[414]Obregon, p. 391.[415]Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, Lib.III, cap. 99 (Col. de Docum., T. LXV, p. 365).[416]Lorenzana, Concilios provin. de Mexico, pp. 18, 33.[417]Ibidem, p. 82.[418]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 17; Lib.VI, Tit. i, ley 35.—Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 27, 30.This fresh papal grant was evidently called for by the action of the Council of Trent, in 1563 (Sess.XXIV, De Reform., cap. 6) which admitted that bishops had only power to absolve for secret heresy, while even this was denied them by the bullsIn Cœna Dominiof Pius V and his successors.[419]Bancroft, History of Mexico, III, 747, 750.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, Lib.II, cap. 1; Lib.III, cap. 8 (Col. de Doc., Tom. LXIV, 7, 386).[420]The Dominican Thomas Gage when, about the year 1630, he was serving as a missionary priest at Mixco in Guatemala, discovered, after considerable trouble, an idol in a cave, secretly worshipped by the leading Indians of the vicinage. After relating his adventures in the search, he proceeds “I writ to the President of Guatemala informing him of what I had don and to the Bishop (as an Inquisitor to whom such cases of Idolatry did belong) to be informed of him what course I should take with the Indians, who were but in part as yet discovered unto me and those only by the relation of one Indian. From both I received great thanks for my pains in searching the mountains and finding the Idol and for my zeal in burning of it. And as touching the Indian Idolators their counsel unto me was that I should further enquire after the rest and discover as many as I could and endeavor to convert them to the knowledge of the true God by fair and sweet means, showing pity unto them for their great blindness and promising them upon their repentance pardon from the Inquisition, which considering them to be but new plants useth not such rigor with them, which it useth with Spaniards if they fall into such horrible sins.”—Gage’s New Survey of the West Indies, pp. 397-8 (London, 1677).For a considerable time the Indians seem to have escaped persecution, but at length the bishops—or at least some of them—formed Inquisitions for them and conducted these in inquisitorial fashion. In 1690 the Bishop of Oaxaca, having discovered organized idolatry in eleven pueblos of the Sierra de Xuquil, held an auto in which the culprits were reconciled and penanced, twenty-six of the principal ones being condemned to perpetual prison, for which he constructed an appropriate building. Possibly the fact that persecution was unprofitable may explain the infrequency of these proceedings. The first Indian auto in the city of Mexico seems to have been held December 23, 1731, which was followed occasionally by others—bigamy, superstitions and idolatry being the common offences. In 1769 the Archbishop of Mexico published an Edict of Faith requiring denunciations of Indian practices to hisTribunal de Fe. This excited the indignation of the Inquisitors who vainly demanded its suppression and then appealed to the Suprema, probably with no better success.—Medina, pp. 371-8.[421]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 26.[422]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 40, fol. 24; Libro 926, fol. 169.[423]Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 13.[424]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Leg. 1157, fol. 66.[425]Ibidem, Libro 40, fol. 31.[426]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 14. In 1626, however, Philip IV ordered them to be compelled to pay thealcavalaor commutation of the tax of ten per cent. on all transactions like other subjects and, in the Concordia of 1633, the exemption from royal taxes and imposts was wholly withdrawn.—Ibidem, Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 15; 30, § 5.[427]MSS. of Royal Library of Munich, Cod. Hispan. 79, Leg. 1, fol. 1.[428]Recop., Lib.VI, Tit. xii, ley 42.[429]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 10, 11, 12.—Solorzani de Ind. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 11.[430]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 24, 25. In the earlier period of the colonial Inquisition, the inquisitors sometimes, as we have seen, held prebends in addition to their salaries, but this privilege was subsequently withdrawn, at the instance of the Council of Indies, on account of the poverty of the churches.—Solorzani,op. cit., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 78.[431]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 54, 128, 139.The canonries fell in gradually. October 24, 1636, the Suprema reports that up to that time, only those of Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and Guatemala, had become available, the aggregate revenues of which did not amount to the royal subvention. The tribunal had reported, January 23d, that a vacancy had occurred in the cathedral of Guadalajara and the king is urged to lose no time in ordering its suppression.—Ibidem, Lib. 21, fol. 67.About the middle of the century the tribunal enjoyed canonries in Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapa, Yucatan, Guatemala, Mechoacan, Guadalajara and Manila. In Mexico the sees of Guadiana, Honduras and Nicaragua, and in the Philippines those of Cebu, Cagayan and Nueva Segovia were too poor, some of them not even having prebendaries, and the bishops were supported by the treasury.—Medina, p. 209.[432]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[433]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 44.—Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 30, § 1.[434]Medina, p. 209.[435]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 85, 139. In these papers the Suprema had the hardihood to assert that the prebends were suppressed in order to enable the tribunals to meet expenses over and above the royal subvention for salaries, although all the documents show that the object was to relieve the treasury.[436]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 91, 103.[437]J. T. Medina, La Inquisicion en Cartagena de Indias, p. 310 (Santiago de Chile, 1899).[438]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Legajo 1465, fol. 78.[439]Archivo de Simancas, Libro 40, fol. 57.[440]Ibidem, fol. 74.The Contratacion could furnish only the records of silver passing through it, which were always liable to seizure by the king. The great remittances of 1646 and 1648 were cautiously made in bills of exchange, and this was probably the rule.[441]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 77.[442]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 85, 139.The letter-book of the tribunal from 1642 to 1649 is largely filled with minute instructions as to the sequestrations which accompanied arrests and the management of the property seized. Though called sequestration this was really confiscation for, without awaiting the conviction of the accused, the assets were converted into money as rapidly as possible, by auctions in which of course much was sacrificed. The proceedings were most arbitrary. In a letter of October 21, 1645, the commissioner at Vera Cruz is instructed as to some cocoa belonging to prisoners, either on hand or expected to arrive. Trains of pack-mules were to be seized, no matter under what engagements they might be, to hurry the goods to Mexico and no other cocoa was to be allowed to come, so that this might bring a better price. A few weeks earlier, on September 25th, orders were sent for the arrest of Captain Fernando Moreno of Miaguatlan (Oaxaca), who was claimed to be a debtor to the fisc. He was to be seized suddenly and hurried off, heavily ironed, to Mexico, while his property was taken possession of. He was engaged in large transactions of making advances to Indians for cotton yarn and cochineal and minute instructions were given as to gathering in the product of these advances, which would be an affair of time. All this work had to be gratuitous. When on one occasion a familiar and a notary charged for their labor, they were compelled to refund and were told that the honor of serving the Inquisition was sufficient payment.—MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[443]Bibl. nacional, MSS., D, 150, p. 224.[444]Archivo de Simancas, Lib. 40, fol. 218, 328.[445]Archivo de Simancas, fol. 85, 139. In 1631 thevara, or wand of office of alguazil, was sold in Castile and, in 1634, the Suprema sought to extend this to the Colonies, under pretext of applying it to the repairs of the Castle of Triana, the home of the tribunal of Seville. The Council of Indies stoutly resisted it and a consulta of November 16, 1638, shows that the struggle was still going on (Ibidem, Libro 21, fol. 162). The Suprema finally won, but of course it absorbed the proceeds and the castle was repaired by means of the levy known as theFabrica de Sevilla, which continued to be collected in the nineteenth century.It is probable that the amount attributed to the sale ofvarasis largely exaggerated. In 1652 there came a remittance from Mexico of 2298 pesos, of which 1711 were the proceeds of sales and 587 for themedia añata—a tax of half of the first year’s salary of those appointed to office (Ibidem, Lib. 40, fol. 295).[446]Obregon,op. cit., 1ª Serie, p. 188.[447]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 28, fol. 276.[448]Medina, pp. 213, 348, 379, 405.[449]Archivo de Simancas, Libro, 435, 2º.[450]Obregon,op. cit., 2º Serie, pp. 352-55. From 1601 to 1646 the only sanbenitos were—1603. A Fleming relaxed for Calvinism, one Judaizer reconciled and one relaxed in effigy and two mulattos reconciled for heresy.1605. An Irishman reconciled for Lutheranism and a Portuguese for Judaism. There were however 36 penitents in this auto of whom 21 were negroes and mulattos for blasphemy. When in 1605 the general pardon for Judaizers descended from Portuguese reached Mexico, there was only one to be liberated.—Medina, pp. 143, 146.1606. A mulatto relaxed for administering sacraments without ordination. There was however another person guilty of the same offence, a married priest and a blasphemer.—Medina, p. 145.1621. A German reconciled for Lutheranism.1625. Three Judaizers reconciled.1626 One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.1630. Three Judaizers reconciled.1635. Four Judaizers reconciled, one relaxed in person and four in effigy. This is evidently incomplete. Medina, p. 165, reports that in this auto there were twelve Judaizers reconciled and five effigies of the dead relaxed.1636. One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.[451]Medina, pp. 146-50.[452]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr. The cases reported consisted ofJudaism22Solicitation12Sorcery8Bigamy4Personating priesthood4Illuminism2Miscellaneous11[453]Medina, p. 168.[454]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[455]Medina, p. 169.[456]Solicitation in the confessional14Sorcery and divination112Consulting diviners13Judaism (besides 11 in Pernambuco)41Disregard of disabilities of descendants8Bigamy4Abuse of Inquisition by culprits2Remaining under excommunication for a year4Revealing confessions1Heretical blasphemy6Incest1Neglect of observances5Mental Prayer better than Oral1A little girl for breaking an arm of an image of Christ1A boy of 6, for making crosses on the ground, stamping on them and saying that he was a heretic1Priest saying 4 masses in one day1Personating official of Inquisition1Celebrating mass without ordination2Impeding the Inquisition7Insults to images6Concubinage better than marriage3Irregular fasting1Propositions12Various suspicious acts1Marriage better than Religious Life1Criticizing the Inquisition1Denying a debt due to the confiscated estate of a culprit1Marriage in Orders1For being the grandson of a man relaxed in Portugal1(MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.).Nearly all the accusations of sorcery are of Indians, negroes or mulattos. A note states that the testifications against Indians are not indexed because the Inquisition has not jurisdiction over them.[457]The plant named Peyote had intoxicating and narcotic properties causing pipe-dreams and visions. It was largely used by diviners and was strictly prohibited by the Inquisition.[458]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 812; Cuenca, fol. 2.[459]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[460]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[461]Carta de 27 Nov. 1643 (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.). These prisoners were all reconciled in the subsequent autos except three who died in prison and were relaxed in effigy.For the individual offences of these inquisitors and their subordinates in cruelty, rapacity, embezzlement and licentiousness, as reported by thevisitadorMedina Rico, see Medina, pp. 261-2.[462]Medina, pp. 239.[463]Medina, pp. 181, 182.[464]Medina, p. 183.—El Museo Mexicano, Mexico, 1843, pp. 537 sqq. Reprinted also, with some abbreviation as an appendix to a translation of Féréal’sMystères de la Inquisition, Mexico, 1850.[465]My copy of this scarce tract unfortunately lacks the title page, which I am thus unable to give. It was printed in Mexico in 1649.[466]In addition to those who appeared in the auto there were two women condemned to relaxation, Isabel Núñez and Leonor Vaz who, the night before in the prison, sought audience with the inquisitors, professed conversion, and were withdrawn. They were reconciled in church, April 21, with irremissible perpetual prison and sanbenito.Besides the summary in the text, the list of sanbenitos for this year includes the names of Francisco López de Aponte, relaxed in person for atheism and Sebastian Alvares for obstinacy in various errors (Obregon, p. 372), but they are not in the official relation and, as they occur again in 1659 (p. 381), there is obviously an erroneous duplication.[467]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 38, fol. 96, 101.[468]When, in 1654, Medina Rico came as visitador, he found 1200 cases pending in suits against the fisc of the tribunal.—Medina, p. 212.[469]Medina, pp. 271-311.[470]Proceso contra Joseph Bruñon de Vertiz (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.).I have considered this curious case at greater length in “Chapters from the Religious History of Spain,” pp. 362-73.[471]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 60, fol. 189.[472]Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, pp. 380-4.[473]Medina, pp. 328, 330.[474]In the auto of 1601 the priest Juan Plata appeared as a penitent and was suspended from orders for connivance in pretended revelations of a nun of the Puebla convent of St. Catherine of Siena. He was also asolicitante, having seduced her in the confessional, but this was studiously omitted from the sentence read.—Medina,op. cit., p. 125.[475]Oviedo y Valdés, Las Quinquagenas de la Nobleza de España, I, 383 (Madrid, 1880).—Concil. Mexican. I, ann. 1555, cap. lvii.—Mendieta, Hist. eccles. Indiana, Lib.IV, cap. xlv.[476]Medina, p. 54.[477]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[478]“Que es delito muy reiterado en estas partes y muchos confesores hacen poquisimo caso dél.”—Medina, p. 162.[479]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[480]Medina, p. 320.In 1664 the tribunal asked to have its jurisdiction extended over unnatural crime and bestiality, which it described as exceedingly prevalent, especially in the Religious Orders, but the Suprema refused.—Ibidem, p. 321.It was beyond the power of the Suprema to accede to this without a special papal delegation. In Spain this had been granted to the tribunals of the Kingdoms of Aragon, but not to those of Castile.[481]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.[482]Ibidem.[483]Biblioteca nacional de Madrid, Seccion de MSS., X, 157, fol. 240 (see Appendix).—Royal Library of Munich, Cod. Hispan. 79.

[380]Torquemada,op. cit., Lib.XV, cap. 1, 10.—Col. de Doc., Tom. XXVI, p. 286.

See also a letter of the Franciscan Custodian Fray Angel de Valencia, to Charles V, May 8, 1552. If the description of his brother frailes by Fray Pedro Duran, in a letter to Philip II, Feb. 2, 1583, be not exaggerated, there was not much gained in restricting episcopal appointments to the regular Orders.—J. T. Medina, Historia de la Inquisicion en Mexico, pp. 11, 12 (Santiago de Chile, 1905).

[381]Mendieta, Hist. eccles. Indiana, p. 549 (Mexico, 1870).

[382]Amador de los Rios, Hist. de los Judíos, III, 378.

[383]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 9, fol. 71.See also a letter from Alonzo de Zuazo to Chièvres, written from Hispañola, January 29, 1519, urging that immigrants be invited from all nations, except Moors and Jews and the reconciled New Christians with their children and grandchildren, who were prohibited by the royal ordinance.—Col. de Documentos, T. II, p. 371.

[383]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 9, fol. 71.

See also a letter from Alonzo de Zuazo to Chièvres, written from Hispañola, January 29, 1519, urging that immigrants be invited from all nations, except Moors and Jews and the reconciled New Christians with their children and grandchildren, who were prohibited by the royal ordinance.—Col. de Documentos, T. II, p. 371.

[384]Lorenzana, Concilios Provinciales de Mejico, p. 32 (Mexico, 1769).

[385]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.VII, Tit. v, ley 29.

[386]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 3, fol. 106, 107.

[387]Ibidem, Lib. 9, fol. 37.—Llorente (Añales, II, 91) states that Ximenes, May 7, 1516, appointed Juan Quevedo, Bishop of Cuba, as delegate inquisitor-general of the Indies, with power to appoint judges and other officials, but I can find no trace of such action and, if the appointment was made, it was ineffective. The first see erected in Cuba was that of Santiago, in 1522 (Gams, p. 146), and there could have been none as early as 1516, as the first expedition to the island under Diego Velázquez did not occur until 1511. Hefele (Der Cardinal Ximenes, p. 497) makes Ximenes appoint Alessandro Geraldino, Bishop of San Domingo and his colleague of la Vega inquisitors-general but, as we have seen, Geraldino was not appointed as bishop until 1522, four years after the death of Ximenes.

[388]Remesal, Historia de la Provincia de S. Vicente de Chyapa y Guatemala, Lib.II, cap. iii.—Obregon, Mexico viejo, 1ª Serie, pp. 179-80; 2ª Serie, p. 390 (Mexico, 1891-5).

[389]Obregon, México viejo, 2ª Serie, p. 333.It would seem that the sanbenitos were not hung in the cathedral until 1667, after pressure from the Suprema to compel the inquisitors to perform the work, which must have been considerable if they had to be compiled from the records. The number then hung amounted to 404.—Medina, Historia de la Inquisicion de México, p. 317.

[389]Obregon, México viejo, 2ª Serie, p. 333.

It would seem that the sanbenitos were not hung in the cathedral until 1667, after pressure from the Suprema to compel the inquisitors to perform the work, which must have been considerable if they had to be compiled from the records. The number then hung amounted to 404.—Medina, Historia de la Inquisicion de México, p. 317.

[390]Puja, Provisiones, Cédulas, Instrumentos de su Magestad etc., fol. 97 (Mexico, 1563).

[391]Coleccion de Documentos, LXX, 535.—Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern. Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 9.

[392]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 4.

[393]Obregon,loc. cit.

[394]Obregon,loc. cit.—Schäfer, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Spanischen Protestantismus, II, 373.

[395]Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, p. 61.

[396]Medina,op. cit., pp. 35-6.

[397]Solorzaniop. cit., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 38.

[398]Bulario de la Orden de Santiago, Lib.III, fol. 79, 123.

[399]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 1.—Cf. Simancæ de Catholicis Institutionibus, Tit.XXXVIII, n. 12.

[400]Relazioni Venete, Serie I, Tom. VI, p. 462.

[401]This and the following details of the installation of the Mexican Inquisition I owe to a series of documents, copies of which were kindly furnished to me by the late General Don Vicente Riva Palacio.Doctor Moya de Contreras was an old and experienced hand. In 1541 he was appointed inquisitor of Saragossa.—Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Sala 40, Lib. 4, fol. 117.

Doctor Moya de Contreras was an old and experienced hand. In 1541 he was appointed inquisitor of Saragossa.—Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Sala 40, Lib. 4, fol. 117.

[402]Torquemada, Lib.XIX, cap. 29. For almost all the early inquisitors of Mexico the tribunal was the stepping-stone to the episcopate. Bonilla, who went, in 1571, as fiscal, became inquisitor in 1573 and Archbishop of Mexico in 1592. Alonso Granero, who went as inquisitor in 1574, became Bishop of Charcas the same year. Santos García was inquisitor in 1576 and Bishop of Jalisco in 1597. Alonso de Peralta, who was inquisitor in 1594, was made Archbishop of La Plata in 1609, and Lobo Guerrero, who was inquisitor in 1593, became Archbishop of Santafé in 1598.It illustrates the character of the men occupying these positions that when Granero left Mexico for his bishopric he went by land and in Nicaragua he assumed still to be inquisitor, condemning people and fining them to defray his travelling expenses. An unlucky notary named Rodrigo de Evora wrote some satiric couplets about him, whereupon he was thrown in prison with chains on hands and feet, tortured till he was crippled with dislocated joints and then exposed in a public auto and condemned to 300 lashes and six years of galleys. The scourging was administered with excessive severity and Evora had to beg his way to Mexico to appeal to the tribunal there. He evidently was stripped of his property and among other things of four cases of Chinese ware, which Granero appropriated to his own use.—Medina,op. cit., 76-78.

It illustrates the character of the men occupying these positions that when Granero left Mexico for his bishopric he went by land and in Nicaragua he assumed still to be inquisitor, condemning people and fining them to defray his travelling expenses. An unlucky notary named Rodrigo de Evora wrote some satiric couplets about him, whereupon he was thrown in prison with chains on hands and feet, tortured till he was crippled with dislocated joints and then exposed in a public auto and condemned to 300 lashes and six years of galleys. The scourging was administered with excessive severity and Evora had to beg his way to Mexico to appeal to the tribunal there. He evidently was stripped of his property and among other things of four cases of Chinese ware, which Granero appropriated to his own use.—Medina,op. cit., 76-78.

[403]Medina,op. cit., p. 22.

[404]See Appendix.

[405]Mr. Elkan N. Adler has printed a translation of these special instructions furnished to Peru. Unquestionably the same provisions must have been established in Mexico.—Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, No. 12.The inquisitors were empowered to call in the judges of the Royal Audiencia as consultors in theconsulta de fe.—Ibidem.

The inquisitors were empowered to call in the judges of the Royal Audiencia as consultors in theconsulta de fe.—Ibidem.

[406]Medina,op. cit., p. 30.

[407]Llorente, Hist. crít., cap. xix, art. ii. n. 18.

[408]Medina,op. cit., p. 31.

[409]Medina,op. cit., pp. 36-43.—Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, 84-90, 335-7.—Páramo de Orig. Officii S. Inquisit., p. 241. The “Cornelius the Irishman” of Miles Phillips’s narrative was not burnt until the auto of March 6, 1575. He was one of Hawkins’s men, who had married in Guatemala.—Medina, p. 51.

[410]Obregon, p. 391. In the great auto of December 8, 1596, the sentence to relaxation of Manuel Díaz states that he is to be taken on horseback to the market-place of San Ipolito where, in the place provided for it, he is to be garroted and burnt.—Proceso contra Manuel Díaz, fol. 154 (I owe to the kindness of General Riva Palacio several of the original trials connected with this auto).

[411]Medina,op. cit., pp. 49-55.

[412]Torquemada, Lib.XIX, cap. 30.—Obregon, pp. 338-52.—Medina,op. cit., pp. 91-115, 123-36.

[413]Páramo, pp. 241-2.—Proceso contra Manuel Díaz, fol. 71 (MS.penes me).—Obregon, p. 344. The fourth sister of Carvajal was burnt for relapse in the auto of 1601 and a fifth was reconciled (Medina, pp. 131-133).An incident of Carvajal’s trial illustrates the dread excited by the pitiless Peralta, who richly earned his archbishopric. After prolonged torture and confession, Carvajal endeavored to commit suicide and then asked for Lobo Guerrero to be sent for, to whom he explained that he had begged that Peralta should not be present “because the mere sight of him made his flesh creep, such was the terror with which his rigor inspired him.”—Adler, Trial of Jorje de Almeida (Publications of Am. Jewish Hist. Soc., IV, 42).The complaints against Peralta accumulated until the Suprema was compelled to formulate a process against him in which thesumariacontained thirty-two charges, not only of arbitrary cruelty but of prostitution of his office for illicit gain (Medina, p. 216); but this, as we have seen, did not prevent his promotion to the archiepiscopate of La Plata.

An incident of Carvajal’s trial illustrates the dread excited by the pitiless Peralta, who richly earned his archbishopric. After prolonged torture and confession, Carvajal endeavored to commit suicide and then asked for Lobo Guerrero to be sent for, to whom he explained that he had begged that Peralta should not be present “because the mere sight of him made his flesh creep, such was the terror with which his rigor inspired him.”—Adler, Trial of Jorje de Almeida (Publications of Am. Jewish Hist. Soc., IV, 42).

The complaints against Peralta accumulated until the Suprema was compelled to formulate a process against him in which thesumariacontained thirty-two charges, not only of arbitrary cruelty but of prostitution of his office for illicit gain (Medina, p. 216); but this, as we have seen, did not prevent his promotion to the archiepiscopate of La Plata.

[414]Obregon, p. 391.

[415]Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, Lib.III, cap. 99 (Col. de Docum., T. LXV, p. 365).

[416]Lorenzana, Concilios provin. de Mexico, pp. 18, 33.

[417]Ibidem, p. 82.

[418]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 17; Lib.VI, Tit. i, ley 35.—Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 27, 30.This fresh papal grant was evidently called for by the action of the Council of Trent, in 1563 (Sess.XXIV, De Reform., cap. 6) which admitted that bishops had only power to absolve for secret heresy, while even this was denied them by the bullsIn Cœna Dominiof Pius V and his successors.

[418]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 17; Lib.VI, Tit. i, ley 35.—Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 27, 30.

This fresh papal grant was evidently called for by the action of the Council of Trent, in 1563 (Sess.XXIV, De Reform., cap. 6) which admitted that bishops had only power to absolve for secret heresy, while even this was denied them by the bullsIn Cœna Dominiof Pius V and his successors.

[419]Bancroft, History of Mexico, III, 747, 750.—Las Casas, Hist. de las Indias, Lib.II, cap. 1; Lib.III, cap. 8 (Col. de Doc., Tom. LXIV, 7, 386).

[420]The Dominican Thomas Gage when, about the year 1630, he was serving as a missionary priest at Mixco in Guatemala, discovered, after considerable trouble, an idol in a cave, secretly worshipped by the leading Indians of the vicinage. After relating his adventures in the search, he proceeds “I writ to the President of Guatemala informing him of what I had don and to the Bishop (as an Inquisitor to whom such cases of Idolatry did belong) to be informed of him what course I should take with the Indians, who were but in part as yet discovered unto me and those only by the relation of one Indian. From both I received great thanks for my pains in searching the mountains and finding the Idol and for my zeal in burning of it. And as touching the Indian Idolators their counsel unto me was that I should further enquire after the rest and discover as many as I could and endeavor to convert them to the knowledge of the true God by fair and sweet means, showing pity unto them for their great blindness and promising them upon their repentance pardon from the Inquisition, which considering them to be but new plants useth not such rigor with them, which it useth with Spaniards if they fall into such horrible sins.”—Gage’s New Survey of the West Indies, pp. 397-8 (London, 1677).For a considerable time the Indians seem to have escaped persecution, but at length the bishops—or at least some of them—formed Inquisitions for them and conducted these in inquisitorial fashion. In 1690 the Bishop of Oaxaca, having discovered organized idolatry in eleven pueblos of the Sierra de Xuquil, held an auto in which the culprits were reconciled and penanced, twenty-six of the principal ones being condemned to perpetual prison, for which he constructed an appropriate building. Possibly the fact that persecution was unprofitable may explain the infrequency of these proceedings. The first Indian auto in the city of Mexico seems to have been held December 23, 1731, which was followed occasionally by others—bigamy, superstitions and idolatry being the common offences. In 1769 the Archbishop of Mexico published an Edict of Faith requiring denunciations of Indian practices to hisTribunal de Fe. This excited the indignation of the Inquisitors who vainly demanded its suppression and then appealed to the Suprema, probably with no better success.—Medina, pp. 371-8.

For a considerable time the Indians seem to have escaped persecution, but at length the bishops—or at least some of them—formed Inquisitions for them and conducted these in inquisitorial fashion. In 1690 the Bishop of Oaxaca, having discovered organized idolatry in eleven pueblos of the Sierra de Xuquil, held an auto in which the culprits were reconciled and penanced, twenty-six of the principal ones being condemned to perpetual prison, for which he constructed an appropriate building. Possibly the fact that persecution was unprofitable may explain the infrequency of these proceedings. The first Indian auto in the city of Mexico seems to have been held December 23, 1731, which was followed occasionally by others—bigamy, superstitions and idolatry being the common offences. In 1769 the Archbishop of Mexico published an Edict of Faith requiring denunciations of Indian practices to hisTribunal de Fe. This excited the indignation of the Inquisitors who vainly demanded its suppression and then appealed to the Suprema, probably with no better success.—Medina, pp. 371-8.

[421]Recop. de las Indias, Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 26.

[422]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 40, fol. 24; Libro 926, fol. 169.

[423]Solorzani de Indiar. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 13.

[424]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Leg. 1157, fol. 66.

[425]Ibidem, Libro 40, fol. 31.

[426]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 14. In 1626, however, Philip IV ordered them to be compelled to pay thealcavalaor commutation of the tax of ten per cent. on all transactions like other subjects and, in the Concordia of 1633, the exemption from royal taxes and imposts was wholly withdrawn.—Ibidem, Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 15; 30, § 5.

[427]MSS. of Royal Library of Munich, Cod. Hispan. 79, Leg. 1, fol. 1.

[428]Recop., Lib.VI, Tit. xii, ley 42.

[429]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 10, 11, 12.—Solorzani de Ind. Gubern., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 11.

[430]Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, leyes 24, 25. In the earlier period of the colonial Inquisition, the inquisitors sometimes, as we have seen, held prebends in addition to their salaries, but this privilege was subsequently withdrawn, at the instance of the Council of Indies, on account of the poverty of the churches.—Solorzani,op. cit., Lib.III, cap. xxiv, n. 78.

[431]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 54, 128, 139.The canonries fell in gradually. October 24, 1636, the Suprema reports that up to that time, only those of Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and Guatemala, had become available, the aggregate revenues of which did not amount to the royal subvention. The tribunal had reported, January 23d, that a vacancy had occurred in the cathedral of Guadalajara and the king is urged to lose no time in ordering its suppression.—Ibidem, Lib. 21, fol. 67.About the middle of the century the tribunal enjoyed canonries in Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapa, Yucatan, Guatemala, Mechoacan, Guadalajara and Manila. In Mexico the sees of Guadiana, Honduras and Nicaragua, and in the Philippines those of Cebu, Cagayan and Nueva Segovia were too poor, some of them not even having prebendaries, and the bishops were supported by the treasury.—Medina, p. 209.

[431]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 54, 128, 139.

The canonries fell in gradually. October 24, 1636, the Suprema reports that up to that time, only those of Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and Guatemala, had become available, the aggregate revenues of which did not amount to the royal subvention. The tribunal had reported, January 23d, that a vacancy had occurred in the cathedral of Guadalajara and the king is urged to lose no time in ordering its suppression.—Ibidem, Lib. 21, fol. 67.

About the middle of the century the tribunal enjoyed canonries in Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, Chiapa, Yucatan, Guatemala, Mechoacan, Guadalajara and Manila. In Mexico the sees of Guadiana, Honduras and Nicaragua, and in the Philippines those of Cebu, Cagayan and Nueva Segovia were too poor, some of them not even having prebendaries, and the bishops were supported by the treasury.—Medina, p. 209.

[432]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[433]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 44.—Recop., Lib.I, Tit. xix, ley 30, § 1.

[434]Medina, p. 209.

[435]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 85, 139. In these papers the Suprema had the hardihood to assert that the prebends were suppressed in order to enable the tribunals to meet expenses over and above the royal subvention for salaries, although all the documents show that the object was to relieve the treasury.

[436]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 91, 103.

[437]J. T. Medina, La Inquisicion en Cartagena de Indias, p. 310 (Santiago de Chile, 1899).

[438]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Legajo 1465, fol. 78.

[439]Archivo de Simancas, Libro 40, fol. 57.

[440]Ibidem, fol. 74.The Contratacion could furnish only the records of silver passing through it, which were always liable to seizure by the king. The great remittances of 1646 and 1648 were cautiously made in bills of exchange, and this was probably the rule.

[440]Ibidem, fol. 74.

The Contratacion could furnish only the records of silver passing through it, which were always liable to seizure by the king. The great remittances of 1646 and 1648 were cautiously made in bills of exchange, and this was probably the rule.

[441]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 77.

[442]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 85, 139.The letter-book of the tribunal from 1642 to 1649 is largely filled with minute instructions as to the sequestrations which accompanied arrests and the management of the property seized. Though called sequestration this was really confiscation for, without awaiting the conviction of the accused, the assets were converted into money as rapidly as possible, by auctions in which of course much was sacrificed. The proceedings were most arbitrary. In a letter of October 21, 1645, the commissioner at Vera Cruz is instructed as to some cocoa belonging to prisoners, either on hand or expected to arrive. Trains of pack-mules were to be seized, no matter under what engagements they might be, to hurry the goods to Mexico and no other cocoa was to be allowed to come, so that this might bring a better price. A few weeks earlier, on September 25th, orders were sent for the arrest of Captain Fernando Moreno of Miaguatlan (Oaxaca), who was claimed to be a debtor to the fisc. He was to be seized suddenly and hurried off, heavily ironed, to Mexico, while his property was taken possession of. He was engaged in large transactions of making advances to Indians for cotton yarn and cochineal and minute instructions were given as to gathering in the product of these advances, which would be an affair of time. All this work had to be gratuitous. When on one occasion a familiar and a notary charged for their labor, they were compelled to refund and were told that the honor of serving the Inquisition was sufficient payment.—MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[442]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 40, fol. 85, 139.

The letter-book of the tribunal from 1642 to 1649 is largely filled with minute instructions as to the sequestrations which accompanied arrests and the management of the property seized. Though called sequestration this was really confiscation for, without awaiting the conviction of the accused, the assets were converted into money as rapidly as possible, by auctions in which of course much was sacrificed. The proceedings were most arbitrary. In a letter of October 21, 1645, the commissioner at Vera Cruz is instructed as to some cocoa belonging to prisoners, either on hand or expected to arrive. Trains of pack-mules were to be seized, no matter under what engagements they might be, to hurry the goods to Mexico and no other cocoa was to be allowed to come, so that this might bring a better price. A few weeks earlier, on September 25th, orders were sent for the arrest of Captain Fernando Moreno of Miaguatlan (Oaxaca), who was claimed to be a debtor to the fisc. He was to be seized suddenly and hurried off, heavily ironed, to Mexico, while his property was taken possession of. He was engaged in large transactions of making advances to Indians for cotton yarn and cochineal and minute instructions were given as to gathering in the product of these advances, which would be an affair of time. All this work had to be gratuitous. When on one occasion a familiar and a notary charged for their labor, they were compelled to refund and were told that the honor of serving the Inquisition was sufficient payment.—MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[443]Bibl. nacional, MSS., D, 150, p. 224.

[444]Archivo de Simancas, Lib. 40, fol. 218, 328.

[445]Archivo de Simancas, fol. 85, 139. In 1631 thevara, or wand of office of alguazil, was sold in Castile and, in 1634, the Suprema sought to extend this to the Colonies, under pretext of applying it to the repairs of the Castle of Triana, the home of the tribunal of Seville. The Council of Indies stoutly resisted it and a consulta of November 16, 1638, shows that the struggle was still going on (Ibidem, Libro 21, fol. 162). The Suprema finally won, but of course it absorbed the proceeds and the castle was repaired by means of the levy known as theFabrica de Sevilla, which continued to be collected in the nineteenth century.It is probable that the amount attributed to the sale ofvarasis largely exaggerated. In 1652 there came a remittance from Mexico of 2298 pesos, of which 1711 were the proceeds of sales and 587 for themedia añata—a tax of half of the first year’s salary of those appointed to office (Ibidem, Lib. 40, fol. 295).

It is probable that the amount attributed to the sale ofvarasis largely exaggerated. In 1652 there came a remittance from Mexico of 2298 pesos, of which 1711 were the proceeds of sales and 587 for themedia añata—a tax of half of the first year’s salary of those appointed to office (Ibidem, Lib. 40, fol. 295).

[446]Obregon,op. cit., 1ª Serie, p. 188.

[447]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 28, fol. 276.

[448]Medina, pp. 213, 348, 379, 405.

[449]Archivo de Simancas, Libro, 435, 2º.

[450]Obregon,op. cit., 2º Serie, pp. 352-55. From 1601 to 1646 the only sanbenitos were—1603. A Fleming relaxed for Calvinism, one Judaizer reconciled and one relaxed in effigy and two mulattos reconciled for heresy.1605. An Irishman reconciled for Lutheranism and a Portuguese for Judaism. There were however 36 penitents in this auto of whom 21 were negroes and mulattos for blasphemy. When in 1605 the general pardon for Judaizers descended from Portuguese reached Mexico, there was only one to be liberated.—Medina, pp. 143, 146.1606. A mulatto relaxed for administering sacraments without ordination. There was however another person guilty of the same offence, a married priest and a blasphemer.—Medina, p. 145.1621. A German reconciled for Lutheranism.1625. Three Judaizers reconciled.1626 One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.1630. Three Judaizers reconciled.1635. Four Judaizers reconciled, one relaxed in person and four in effigy. This is evidently incomplete. Medina, p. 165, reports that in this auto there were twelve Judaizers reconciled and five effigies of the dead relaxed.1636. One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.

[450]Obregon,op. cit., 2º Serie, pp. 352-55. From 1601 to 1646 the only sanbenitos were—

1603. A Fleming relaxed for Calvinism, one Judaizer reconciled and one relaxed in effigy and two mulattos reconciled for heresy.

1605. An Irishman reconciled for Lutheranism and a Portuguese for Judaism. There were however 36 penitents in this auto of whom 21 were negroes and mulattos for blasphemy. When in 1605 the general pardon for Judaizers descended from Portuguese reached Mexico, there was only one to be liberated.—Medina, pp. 143, 146.

1606. A mulatto relaxed for administering sacraments without ordination. There was however another person guilty of the same offence, a married priest and a blasphemer.—Medina, p. 145.

1621. A German reconciled for Lutheranism.

1625. Three Judaizers reconciled.

1626 One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.

1630. Three Judaizers reconciled.

1635. Four Judaizers reconciled, one relaxed in person and four in effigy. This is evidently incomplete. Medina, p. 165, reports that in this auto there were twelve Judaizers reconciled and five effigies of the dead relaxed.

1636. One Judaizer relaxed in effigy.

[451]Medina, pp. 146-50.

[452]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr. The cases reported consisted ofJudaism22Solicitation12Sorcery8Bigamy4Personating priesthood4Illuminism2Miscellaneous11

[452]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr. The cases reported consisted of

[453]Medina, p. 168.

[454]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[455]Medina, p. 169.

[456]Solicitation in the confessional14Sorcery and divination112Consulting diviners13Judaism (besides 11 in Pernambuco)41Disregard of disabilities of descendants8Bigamy4Abuse of Inquisition by culprits2Remaining under excommunication for a year4Revealing confessions1Heretical blasphemy6Incest1Neglect of observances5Mental Prayer better than Oral1A little girl for breaking an arm of an image of Christ1A boy of 6, for making crosses on the ground, stamping on them and saying that he was a heretic1Priest saying 4 masses in one day1Personating official of Inquisition1Celebrating mass without ordination2Impeding the Inquisition7Insults to images6Concubinage better than marriage3Irregular fasting1Propositions12Various suspicious acts1Marriage better than Religious Life1Criticizing the Inquisition1Denying a debt due to the confiscated estate of a culprit1Marriage in Orders1For being the grandson of a man relaxed in Portugal1(MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.).Nearly all the accusations of sorcery are of Indians, negroes or mulattos. A note states that the testifications against Indians are not indexed because the Inquisition has not jurisdiction over them.

[456]

Nearly all the accusations of sorcery are of Indians, negroes or mulattos. A note states that the testifications against Indians are not indexed because the Inquisition has not jurisdiction over them.

[457]The plant named Peyote had intoxicating and narcotic properties causing pipe-dreams and visions. It was largely used by diviners and was strictly prohibited by the Inquisition.

[458]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 812; Cuenca, fol. 2.

[459]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[460]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[461]Carta de 27 Nov. 1643 (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.). These prisoners were all reconciled in the subsequent autos except three who died in prison and were relaxed in effigy.For the individual offences of these inquisitors and their subordinates in cruelty, rapacity, embezzlement and licentiousness, as reported by thevisitadorMedina Rico, see Medina, pp. 261-2.

[461]Carta de 27 Nov. 1643 (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.). These prisoners were all reconciled in the subsequent autos except three who died in prison and were relaxed in effigy.

For the individual offences of these inquisitors and their subordinates in cruelty, rapacity, embezzlement and licentiousness, as reported by thevisitadorMedina Rico, see Medina, pp. 261-2.

[462]Medina, pp. 239.

[463]Medina, pp. 181, 182.

[464]Medina, p. 183.—El Museo Mexicano, Mexico, 1843, pp. 537 sqq. Reprinted also, with some abbreviation as an appendix to a translation of Féréal’sMystères de la Inquisition, Mexico, 1850.

[465]My copy of this scarce tract unfortunately lacks the title page, which I am thus unable to give. It was printed in Mexico in 1649.

[466]In addition to those who appeared in the auto there were two women condemned to relaxation, Isabel Núñez and Leonor Vaz who, the night before in the prison, sought audience with the inquisitors, professed conversion, and were withdrawn. They were reconciled in church, April 21, with irremissible perpetual prison and sanbenito.Besides the summary in the text, the list of sanbenitos for this year includes the names of Francisco López de Aponte, relaxed in person for atheism and Sebastian Alvares for obstinacy in various errors (Obregon, p. 372), but they are not in the official relation and, as they occur again in 1659 (p. 381), there is obviously an erroneous duplication.

Besides the summary in the text, the list of sanbenitos for this year includes the names of Francisco López de Aponte, relaxed in person for atheism and Sebastian Alvares for obstinacy in various errors (Obregon, p. 372), but they are not in the official relation and, as they occur again in 1659 (p. 381), there is obviously an erroneous duplication.

[467]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Libro 38, fol. 96, 101.

[468]When, in 1654, Medina Rico came as visitador, he found 1200 cases pending in suits against the fisc of the tribunal.—Medina, p. 212.

[469]Medina, pp. 271-311.

[470]Proceso contra Joseph Bruñon de Vertiz (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.).I have considered this curious case at greater length in “Chapters from the Religious History of Spain,” pp. 362-73.

[470]Proceso contra Joseph Bruñon de Vertiz (MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.).

I have considered this curious case at greater length in “Chapters from the Religious History of Spain,” pp. 362-73.

[471]Archivo de Simancas, Inquisicion, Lib. 60, fol. 189.

[472]Obregon,op. cit., 2ª Serie, pp. 380-4.

[473]Medina, pp. 328, 330.

[474]In the auto of 1601 the priest Juan Plata appeared as a penitent and was suspended from orders for connivance in pretended revelations of a nun of the Puebla convent of St. Catherine of Siena. He was also asolicitante, having seduced her in the confessional, but this was studiously omitted from the sentence read.—Medina,op. cit., p. 125.

[475]Oviedo y Valdés, Las Quinquagenas de la Nobleza de España, I, 383 (Madrid, 1880).—Concil. Mexican. I, ann. 1555, cap. lvii.—Mendieta, Hist. eccles. Indiana, Lib.IV, cap. xlv.

[476]Medina, p. 54.

[477]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[478]“Que es delito muy reiterado en estas partes y muchos confesores hacen poquisimo caso dél.”—Medina, p. 162.

[479]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[480]Medina, p. 320.In 1664 the tribunal asked to have its jurisdiction extended over unnatural crime and bestiality, which it described as exceedingly prevalent, especially in the Religious Orders, but the Suprema refused.—Ibidem, p. 321.It was beyond the power of the Suprema to accede to this without a special papal delegation. In Spain this had been granted to the tribunals of the Kingdoms of Aragon, but not to those of Castile.

[480]Medina, p. 320.

In 1664 the tribunal asked to have its jurisdiction extended over unnatural crime and bestiality, which it described as exceedingly prevalent, especially in the Religious Orders, but the Suprema refused.—Ibidem, p. 321.

It was beyond the power of the Suprema to accede to this without a special papal delegation. In Spain this had been granted to the tribunals of the Kingdoms of Aragon, but not to those of Castile.

[481]MSS. of David Fergusson Esqr.

[482]Ibidem.

[483]Biblioteca nacional de Madrid, Seccion de MSS., X, 157, fol. 240 (see Appendix).—Royal Library of Munich, Cod. Hispan. 79.

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