THE AUTO-DA-FE.
About the beginning of Holy Week the Inquisitors caused to be erected a
great scaffold against the large church in the main square, and from it
they proclaimed, with much beating of drums and blaring of trumpets,
that whoever should come there upon Good Friday should have made known
to them the most just judgments of the Holy Inquisition upon the English
heretics, Lutherans, and should, moreover, see the same put into
immediate execution. And so now we were face to face with whatever final
cruelty these devils in human shape might devise upon us, who were
helpless and defenseless in their hands.
There was little rest for any of us on the night preceding the
judgments, for there came to each of us officers and Familiars of the
Inquisition, tormenting us with gibes and sneers, and bringing us the
San-benitos in which we were to appear in the great square next morning.
It was already turning gray in the east when two of these men entered my
dungeon, where I lay still stiff and bruised because of the racking
which I had undergone a few days before. They woke me rudely and without
consideration, caring naught for the woes I had already suffered or the
sorrow I was that day to undergo.
"Wake, English dog, Lutheran, enemy of God!" cried one. "Wake and robe
thyself to meet thy master the devil. Truly the saints will rejoice to
see the sight provided for them this day."
Then they hustled me from my straw pallet and bade me dress in the
San-benito, which was a garment of yellow cotton having divers devices
painted upon it. And this done they took me out into the courtyard of
the prison, and there for the first time for some weeks I met Pharaoh
Nanjulian. It was easy to see, even in the uncertain light of the early
morning, that he had undergone the same torments which they had applied
to me. His face was pinched and thin with suffering, and his great frame
seemed to have been crushed and bruised until it had shrunk in height
and girth. Yet he bore himself with composure and bravery, and I felt at
once that, however the rest of us behaved, he at least would not
disgrace the name of England.
"Heart up, master!" quoth he, as soon as we came within speaking
distance of each other. "Heart up! Let us show ourselves brave men this
day. I do not think they can torment us more than they have already
done. And what if they kill us? We must all die."
"Did they torture you badly, Pharaoh?" I asked, admiring his fortitude.
He shook his head and smiled grimly.
"So badly, master, that it seemed as if every bone in my body was
broken and every sinew cracked. But a man may undergo a deal of
suffering and yet live. So let us quit us like men and be strong. For
truly, though we be in the hands of these devils at present, God is near
us, and will maybe be nearer ere the day is done."
Then our custodians separated us again, and for a couple of hours they
exercised us in the prison yard, showing us in what order we should
proceed to the scaffold, and admonishing us as to our behavior when we
had come there. And after that was over, it being broad daylight, they
gave us breakfast, which was a cup of wine with a piece of bread fried
in honey, and so we were ready for the ordeal.
There were some sixty to seventy prisoners in all, of all nationalities,
a considerable number being Englishmen, and all of us were dressed in
those hideous San-benitos, which make the most shameful garb that a man
can wear. Being drawn up in single file, our guards fastened a halter
round the neck of each prisoner, and afterwards gave to each of us a
green wax candle, which we carried, unlighted, in the right hand. Two
Spaniards, well armed, guarded each of us, and so the procession being
arranged, the great doors were thrown open and we were led forth into
the square.
The crowd in the square was so thick that the guards had much ado to
free a passage through it; but ere long we came to the scaffold, and
were conducted upon it, seating ourselves on long rows of chairs placed
in full sight of the people. We had not long occupied this shameful
position when the Viceroy and his officers came upon the scaffold by
another flight of steps, closely followed by the Inquisitors, who took
the chief places and made much show of their authority. Then three
hundred friars, wearing the garb of their various orders, black, white,
gray, and brown, were marshaled to their places, and all was ready for
the judgments.
Now, we were so sorely exercised in our minds at that time because of
the agony of sitting there and wondering when our turn would come and
what our fate would be, that I have utterly forgotten many of the names
and sentences of my unfortunate companions. Some still come back to me,
because their sentences were heavier than those which have escaped my
memory.
The manner of judgment was after this fashion. The clerk to the
Inquisitors calling out our names in a loud voice, we were commanded to
stand up in our places and hear the judgment of the Holy Office upon us.
Thomas White, Cornelius Johnson, Peter Brown, Henry More, all Englishmen
shipwrecked on those inhospitable coasts or captured at sea, were
condemned to three hundred lashes on horseback, and to serve in the
galleys for ten years.
William Collier, Thomas Ford, John Page, two hundred lashes and eight
years in the galleys.
Stephen Brown and Nicholas Peterson, a Dutchman, one hundred lashes and
six years in the galleys.
Then came some forty or fifty men whose names I have forgotten, who were
condemned to a lesser number of lashes and less servitude in the
galleys, and after them some four or five who were adjudged to serve in
monasteries for various terms of years, wearing their San-benitos all
the time.
And then, after two or three hours of weary waiting, for they did
everything with exceeding tediousness and much ceremony, they called
upon Pharaoh Nanjulian and myself, and we stood up together to receive
sentence. And then we suddenly knew that God had not deserted us, for
the sentence was a lighter one than any that we had heard passed. We
were to serve two years in the galleys, submitting ourselves to the
chaplain for admonition and instruction. So that was over and we could
breathe freely again.
Nevertheless the horrible work of that day was far from over, for it was
hardly begun. The torments, the murders, were yet to come.
William Moor, John Wood, and Hans Schewitzer, a German Lutheran, were
brought up for sentence and condemned, being pestilent and naughty
heretics, to be burned to ashes.
They lost no time, these villainous Spaniards, in carrying out this
sentence. In front of the scaffold stood three stout iron posts, firmly
sunk in the ground, with fagots already piled about them, and to these
the unfortunate men were speedily bound, amidst the silence of the crowd
and the cries of the monks and Familiars, who pressed upon their
victims, bidding them repent and recant ere they were lost forever. But
to these murdering villains the three men answered naught, and presently
it was all over with them, and there was one more crime recorded against
Spain.
Then those of us who had been sentenced to so many lashes were led down
from the scaffold and placed upon horses, being stripped to the waist,
and having by them, every man, an executioner armed with a whip. Such of
us as had escaped this sentence were arranged in pairs behind, with our
halters still round our necks and our guards on either side of us.
Before the men who were to be whipped marched two criers, crying "Behold
these English dogs, Lutherans, enemies of God," and at intervals came
Familiars, such as Frey Bartolomeo, admonishing the executioners to lay
on and spare not. Then the procession started, and was conducted by the
criers through all the principal streets back to the great square, and
at every few steps the executioners laid on with their whips, fetching
blood at every stroke, so that to any man having aught of mercy and
compassion within him the spectacle was horrible and nauseating, though
to the Familiars and Inquisitors it seemed delightful enough.
Now, as we returned to the great square, this bloody work being over,
the throng pressed upon us so closely that for some few moments we were
unable to move, and while we stood there waiting for what would happen
next, there came to our side Captain Manuel Nunez, his evil eyes mocking
and sneering at us.
"So, Master Salkeld," said he, "it would seem that you have not
altogether escaped. Our Holy Office is merciful, Master Salkeld, yea,
sadly too merciful for my liking. But there are those of us, who know
not any mercy for Englishmen and heretics, as you shall find ere long,
both of you."
With that he vanished in the crowd, and presently Pharaoh and I were led
back to prison, wondering what his last words meant.