THE KABBALA AND MESSIANIC FANATICISM. THE MARRANOS AND THE INQUISITION.
Internal Condition of Judaism--Division in the Communities--
The Lack of Interest in Poetry--Historical Studies--Leon
Medigo's "Dialogues of Love"--Supremacy of the Kabbala--
Messianic Hopes--The Marranos and the Inquisition--Henrique
Nunes--The Traveler David Reubeni in Rome--Solomon Molcho
--His Relations with David Reubeni--Joseph Karo and his
"Maggid"--Clement VII--Molcho in Ancona and Rome--His Favor
with the Cardinals--Death of Molcho--The Enthusiastic Regard in
which he was held--Duarte de Paz--Paul III--Charles V and the
Jews--Emanuel da Costa.
1500-1538 C.E.
It is astonishing, yet not astonishing, that the surging movement,
the convulsive heaving that shook the Christian world from pole to
pole in the first quarter of the sixteenth century scarcely touched
the inner life of the Jews. Whilst among Christians a radical change
took place, in thought, customs, studies, and even in language;
whilst their ancient customs and usages were rejected or put aside in
some places, and in others freshened up; in a word, whilst a new era
started, everything remained unchanged with the Jews. Having had no
"Middle Ages," they needed no new epoch. They needed no regeneration,
they had no immoral course of life to redress, no cankering corruption
to cure, no dam to raise against the insolence and rapacity of their
spiritual guides. They had not so much rubbish to clear away. It must
not be imagined, however, that within the pale of Judaism all was
bright. The refining and civilizing thoughts of Judaism had not yet
gained the upper hand. The people were wanting in spirituality, their
guides in clearness of mind. Reliance on justification by works and
scholastic sophistry were prevalent also among Jews. In the synagogue
service spirituality was missing, and honesty in the world of business.
The ritual retained all received from olden times, and became filled
with unintelligible elements, so that, on the whole, it acquired an
unattractive character. Sermons were unknown in German congregations
and their offshoots; at best, Talmudical discourses, utterly
unintelligible to the people, especially to women, and, therefore,
leaving them cold and uninterested, were delivered. The Spanish and
Portuguese preachers spoke in the beautiful language of their country,
but their sermons were so full of pedantry that they were no more
easily understood by the laity.
The breaking up of Jewish congregations into national groups was also a
misfortune. The persecution of the Jews had thrown into the large towns
of Italy and Turkey fugitives from the Pyrenees and from Germany, who
failed to unite themselves with the existing congregations, yet did
not amalgamate with each other. There were, therefore, in many towns,
not only Italian, Romanic (Greek), Spanish, Portuguese, German, and,
now and again, Moorish (African) congregations, but of each almost as
many as there were provinces and towns in each country. For example,
in Constantinople, Adrianople, Salonica, Arta (Larta) in Greece, and
many other towns, there was a large variety of congregations, each of
which had its own directors, ritual, rabbi, academy, charities, its
own prejudices and jealousies. In the face of such division, nothing
for the public benefit or general good could be accomplished. The
spiritual leaders, although generally moral, and, as a rule, sincerely
and fervently religious, humbled themselves before the rich members of
their congregation, witnessing insolence and misconduct without daring
to reprove them.
Worse than this splitting up into tiny congregations was the
faintness, the narrow-mindedness, the self-abasement, not merely of
German Jews, but of the Sephardic exiles. Only when it was necessary
to die for the faith of their fathers did they show themselves heroic
and full of courage; at other times their activity was expended on
petty concerns. No new course was taken, not even at sight of the daily
changes of the Christian world. The few who maintained themselves on
the heights of science kept to the beaten track, served but to level
it still more. The ruling idea was to elucidate old thoughts and old
thinkers, and to write commentaries, yea, even super-commentaries.
The Talmudists explained the Talmud, and the philosophical inquirers
Maimuni's "Guide." Higher flight of fancy and greater spiritual insight
were not possible. No sound of real poetry came from the lips of those
nourished on it, not even a thrilling song of lamentation, putting
their grief into words. The only circumstance testifying to change of
position and times was interest in historical research, and that was
almost entirely confined to the Jews of Pyrenean descent. The endless
suffering which they had endured, they wished to preserve for future
generations. Present misery brought before them the sorrows of early
ages, and showed them that the history of the Jewish race was one long
course of painful martyrdom.
Otherwise there was nothing new at this period. Freedom of
philosophical inquiry was not favored. Isaac Abrabanel, the transmitter
of the old Spanish Hebrew spirit, found in Maimuni's philosophical
writings many heresies opposed to Judaism, and he condemned the
free-thinking commentators who went beyond tradition. A Portuguese
fugitive, Joseph Jaabez, laid on philosophy the blame for the expulsion
of the Jews from Spain and Portugal. Free-thinking was the sin which
had led Israel astray; thereon must the greatest restriction be laid.
A fresh spirit breathes in the philosophical work of the talented
Leon Abrabanel, or Medigo. Its title, "Dialogues of Love" (Dialoghi
d'amore), tells the reader that it is not tainted with the insipidity
of commonplace philosophy. No one can better show the elasticity of the
Jewish mind than this scion of the ancient noble family of Abrabanel.
Torn from a comfortable home, thrown into a strange land, leading an
unsettled life in Italy, his heart tortured by gnawing pain for the
living death of his first-born, who had been snatched from him, Leon
Medigo had enough intellectual strength to immerse himself in the
Italian language and literature, and reduce his scattered philosophical
ideas to perfect order. Hardly ten years after his flight from Spain
he might have passed for a learned Italian, rivaling in style the
polished writers of the Medici era, and even excelling them in extent
of learning. With the same pen with which he wrote Hebrew verses to
his son, who was being educated in sham Christianity in Portugal,
admonishing him, "Remain continually mindful of Judaism, cherish the
Hebrew language and literature, and keep ever before thee the grief
of thy father, the pain of thy mother," he wrote his "Dialogues of
Love," the outpourings of Philo's deep love for Sophia. This ostensible
romance is the keynote of Leon Medigo's philosophical system, which
sounds more like a philosophical idyll than a logical system. There
is more imagination than reality, and his reflections are suggestive
rather than true. Possibly Leon Medigo put his deeper thoughts into
a work, now lost, entitled the "Harmony of Heaven." His "Dialogues
of Love" throughout was far removed from Judaism. Leon Medigo paid
high honor to "Hebrew truth," and endeavored to uphold the scriptural
doctrine of creation out of chaos, in opposition to the principles
of Greek philosophy, but he did not penetrate to the true spirit of
Judaism. Therefore his work was valued by Christians more than by
Jews. The Italians were proud to see--it was the first time--
philosophical thought laid down in their own enthusiastically beloved
language. The work became the favorite reading of the educated class,
and in the space of twenty years went through five editions.
The Kabbala with its futilities soon took possession of minds no longer
accustomed to strict logical discipline, and in a measure it filled the
void. In the sixteenth century it first began to have sway over men's
minds. Its adversaries were dead, or indisposed to place themselves
in opposition to the ideas of the age, only too strongly inclined to
mysteries, paradoxes and irrational fancies. Sephardic fugitives,
Judah Chayyat, Baruch of Benevento, Abraham Levi, Meïr ben Gabbai,
Ibn-Abi Zimra, had brought the Kabbala to Italy and Turkey, and with
extraordinary energy won zealous adherents for it. Also, the enthusiasm
felt for the Kabbala by Christian scholars, such as Egidio de Viterbo,
Reuchlin, Galatino, and others, reacted upon the Jews. The doctrine,
they reasoned, must have some deep truth in it, if it is so sought for
by noble Christians. Preacher-Kabbalists expounded the doctrine from
the pulpit, which had not been done before. On questions of ritual
the Kabbalist writings were consulted, often as final authorities.
No wonder that typical elements of the Zohar crept into the liturgy,
conferring upon it a mystical character. With bold presumption the
Kabbalists asserted that they alone were in possession of the Mosaic
tradition, and that the Talmud and the rabbis must give place to them.
In this way the secret doctrine with its tricks and fancies, which had
hitherto unsettled only some few adepts, became known amongst all the
Jews, and affected the sober minds of the people. The opposition of
the rabbis to this interference in the ritual and religious life was
rather weak, as they themselves were convinced of the sanctity of the
Kabbala, and objected to the innovations only in a faint-hearted way.
The empty Kabbala could not fail to arouse enthusiasm in empty heads.
With the Zoharist mystics, as with the Essenes, the expectation of the
Messiah was the center of their system. To further the kingdom of the
Messiah, or the kingdom of Heaven, or the kingdom of morality, and to
predict, by means of letters and numbers, the exact time of its advent,
was the labor in which they delighted. Isaac Abrabanel, although he did
not favor the Kabbala, gave this Messianic enthusiasm his countenance.
The accumulated sufferings of the few remaining Spanish and Portuguese
Jews had broken the spirit of many, and robbed them of their hope of
better times. The hopelessness and despair of his people, which, if
they spread, would further the plans of the church, pained the faithful
Isaac Abrabanel, and in order to counteract this dangerous tendency,
he prepared three works, based upon the Bible (principally the Book of
Daniel) and Agadic sayings, which, he believed, proved incontrovertibly
that Israel would have a glorious future, and that a Messiah would
unfailingly come. According to his reckoning, the advent of the Messiah
must of necessity be in the year 1503, 5263 years after the creation
of the world, and the end would come with the fall of Rome, about
twenty-eight years later.
The support given to Messianic calculations by so thoughtful and
respected a man as Isaac Abrabanel, together with Kabbalistic fancies,
seems to have encouraged an enthusiast to predict the immediate
realization of Messianic ideals. A German, Asher Lämmlein (or Lämmlin),
appeared in Istria, near Venice, proclaiming himself a forerunner of
the Messiah (1502). He announced that if the Jews would show great
repentance, mortification, contrition and charity, the Messiah would
not fail to come in six months. The people's minds, prepared by
suffering and the Kabbalist craze, were susceptible to such convulsive
expectations. Asher Lämmlein gained a troop of adherents, who spread
his prophecies. In Italy and Germany he met with sympathy and belief.
There was much fasting, much praying, much distribution of alms. It
was called the "year of penitence." Everyone prepared himself for the
beginning of the miracle. They counted so surely on redemption and
return to Jerusalem that existing institutions were wilfully destroyed.
The sober and thoughtful did not dare check this wild fanaticism. Even
Christians are said to have believed in Asher Lämmlein's Messianic
prophecy. But the prophet died, or suddenly disappeared, and with him
the extravagant hopes came to an end.
But with the termination of the Lämmlein "year of penitence," the Jews
by no means lost their hope in the Messiah; it was necessary to support
them in their misery. The Kabbalists did not cease arousing this hope,
ever and anon promising them its wonderful realization. Thirty years
later a more important Messianic movement commenced, which, by reason
of its extent and the persons implicated in it, was most interesting.
The Marranos in Spain and Portugal played the principal part in it.
These most unfortunate of all unfortunates, who renounced the faith
of their people, who in a measure estranged themselves from their own
hearts, who were compelled to observe church rites most punctiliously,
though they hated them in the depth of their souls, yet despite all
this were repelled by the Inquisition and the hatred of Christians--
these converts suffered, without exaggeration, the tortures of hell.
The greater portion of them, in spite of all their struggles, could not
bring themselves to love Christianity. How could they feel love for a
creed whose followers daily required the sacrifice of human life, and
on the slightest pretext sought victims among new-Christians? Under
Deza, the second Spanish chief inquisitor, almost greater horrors were
perpetrated than under Torquemada. He and his tools, in particular
Diego Rodriguez Lucero, a pious hangman in Cordova, had committed so
many infamies that a good monk, Peter Martyr, pictured the Inquisition
thirty years after its origin in glaring colors: "The archbishop of
Seville (Deza), Lucero, and Juan de la Fuente have dishonored this
province. Their people acknowledge neither God nor justice. They kill,
steal, and violate women and maidens, to the disgrace of religion.
The injury and unhappiness which these servants of the Inquisition
have caused in my land are so great and widespread that everyone must
grieve." Lucero (the luminous), called by his confederates, on account
of his horrible deeds, Tenebrero (the dark one), brought destruction on
thousands: he was insatiable for the blood of Hebrew martyrs. "Give me
Jews to burn," is said to have been his constant cry. His fanaticism
degenerated into cannibalistic fury.
The officers of the Inquisition had their hands full in consequence
of his cruelty, and an ominous disturbance was growing in Cordova.
The principal people of the place complained of the proceedings
of the inquisitor Lucero, and applied to the chief inquisitor to
have him removed from office. But Deza was at one with him, and so
the discontented knights, nobles, donnas, priests and nuns, were
all accused of favoring Jewish heresy. The third chief inquisitor,
Ximenes de Cisneros, was forbearing towards old Christians suspected
of Judaizing, but condemned not a few converts of Jewish and Moorish
descent to be burned. It was he who used threatening language against
Charles V, when he proposed granting the Spanish Marranos freedom of
belief for a fee of 800,000 gold crowns. He forbade his royal pupil
to tolerate the Jews, as Torquemada had forbidden it to Charles'
ancestors. His successors were not less orthodox, that is to say, not
less inhuman. Under them the victims were not Jews alone; Christians
suffered with them. The reform movement in Germany was felt also in
Spain. Luther's and Calvin's onslaught on the papacy, on priestcraft
and ceremonies was brought over the Pyrenees through the connection of
Spain and Germany, and owing to the nationality of Emperor Charles V.
The emperor, so troubled with the Reformation in Germany, empowered
the Holy Office to proceed against Lutheran doctrines in Spain, a most
welcome task to the bloodthirsty monster. Henceforth, Jews, Mahometans
and Lutheran Christians enjoyed equality; at every auto-da-fé martyrs
of the three different religions perished together.
The Marranos in Portugal were differently placed from those in Spain.
King Manoel, who had by force dragged the Jews to the baptismal font,
in order not to drive them to despair had pledged his word that
for twenty (or twenty-nine) years, their faith should not suffer
molestation at the hands of the Inquisition. Relying on this promise
the Portuguese Marranos followed Jewish observances with less secrecy
than those of Spain. In Lisbon, where they mostly resided, they had
a synagogue, in which they assembled, the more regularly as they
outwardly complied with the Roman Catholic rites, and, therefore, in
their own place of worship, with much contrition, implored forgiveness
of God for their idolatry. The old instructed the young in the Bible
and the Talmud, and impressed upon them the truths of Judaism, so
as to guard them against the temptation of unreserved acceptance
of Christianity. The Portuguese Marranos also had more freedom to
emigrate, and left singly or in numbers for Barbary or Italy, and
thence went on to Turkey. To check the emigration of the Marranos
Manoel had issued an order that a Christian could conclude an exchange
or barter with a convert only under pain of forfeiting his possessions,
and could buy real estate from him only by royal permission; moreover,
that no Marrano, with wife, children and servants, should leave the
land without a special license from the king. But orders of this
description were made only to be evaded. Spanish Marranos had every
reason to envy their fellows in Portugal, and spared no trouble to
escape beyond the frontier of the land where the stake was ready, and
the fagots lighted for them. Very naturally the vindictive Spanish
government opposed them, and induced Manoel to pass a law that no
Spaniard could step on Portuguese soil unless he brought a certificate
that he was not guilty of heresy.
The Portuguese Marranos, then, would have had a tolerable existence
if popular hatred of them had not been so fierce. This unfriendliness
after their baptism shows that they were hated less as followers
of Judaism than as a different race, and an active, industrious,
superior class. The Christians' dislike of them increased when the
converts obtained the right of pursuing a trade, of collecting church
tithes, of taking office, or even accepting ecclesiastical dignities
preparatory to entering one of the orders. At first they showed their
hatred by calling them insulting names, "cursed convert of a Jew"
(_Judæo Marrano, converso_), till Manoel stopped this by law. Bad
harvests, which for many years had brought famine into Portugal, now
resulted in a plague, and this added fuel to popular animosity. It was
commonly said, "The baptized Jews are grain speculators; they make the
necessaries of life dear, and export grain to foreign countries." The
person most hated was a Marrano upstart, John Rodrigo Mascarenhas, the
farmer of taxes, and through him all the Marranos incurred hatred.
This feeling was employed by the crafty Dominicans to gain the
expulsion of the favorites of King Manoel. They not only preached about
the godlessness of the converts, but invented a miracle outright
to excite the fanaticism of the people. The moment was opportune.
The plague raged in Portugal, and swept away thousands daily, while
continued drought threatened another bad harvest. Of these troubles,
the Marranos alone were the cause, at least so everybody said. The
Dominicans loudly proclaimed that, in one of their churches, in a
mirror attached to a cross, the Virgin Mary had appeared in a glow of
fire, and other astonishing miracles had been seen in it. They were
practiced in such deceit. Many people flocked to the church to behold
the marvel. On a Sunday after Easter (April 19th, 1506), the church was
filled with devotional gazers, among them Marranos, who were compelled
to attend.
A Dominican, in a passionate sermon, charged the people collected in
the church to murder the accursed converts, because the king favored
them; and two others, John Mocho and Fratre Bernardo, walked through
the street, bearing crosses, and, crying "Heresy, heresy!" The scum of
the populace in the turbulent capital was aroused, and, together with
German, Dutch and French sailors, took this opportunity to plunder.
Thus nearly 10,000 people went through the town, and killed Marranos,
men, women and children, wherever they found them, in the streets, in
the houses, or in hiding.
This, however, by no means ended the massacre; it continued two days
longer. A German, who was in Lisbon, reported: "On Monday I saw things
dreadful to say or write if one has not seen them." Women with child
were flung from the windows and caught on spears by those standing
underneath, and their offspring hurled away. The peasantry followed the
example of the townspeople. Many women and girls were violated in this
fanatical chase. The number of new-Christians slain is estimated at
between 2,000 and 4,000.
By this slaughter the fate of the Portuguese Marranos was decided. The
people were the more embittered against them because they had gained
the favor of the king, and they longed for their extermination. Their
lives hung on the chance of the continuance of the king's favor. Manoel
declared by proclamation (March, 1507) that converts were to be treated
as Christians, and that they should be permitted to emigrate; and by
another order, that for sixteen years more they should not be liable
to be arraigned before a tribunal for their religious conduct. The
Christian population remained hostile to the converts, from racial
antipathy and from envy of their industrial success, and Manoel himself
was compelled to modify his attitude towards them.
The condition of the Portuguese Marranos changed under Manoel's
successor João III (1522-1557), the blockhead who brought about the
ruin of his country. As Infante he had been the declared enemy of the
new-Christians. At first he respected his father's edict to place
converted Jews on a par with Christians, and to allow no trial to
take place regarding their religious belief within the prescribed
time (1522-1524). For this indulgence the Marranos had to thank
the old counselors of Manoel, who remembered the violent mode of
their conversion, and on the other hand appreciated how much they
had increased the prosperity of the little state. For the Marranos
were a most useful class on account of their energy, their wholesale
business, their public banks, and their skill as armorers and cannon
founders. They were the only ones, too, possessed of a knowledge of
medicine and physical science and all pertaining to it. There were in
Portugal hardly any but Jewish, that is to say, Marrano physicians.
When, however, other influences were brought to bear on João, and he
gradually freed himself from these wise counselors, his fanatical
detestation of the converts gained the upper hand. Queen Catherine,
a Spanish Infanta, filled with admiration of the religious tribunal
of her country, and the bloodthirsty Dominicans, envious of the power
of their order in Spain, besieged the king with complaints of the
disgraceful and wicked conduct of the Marranos towards the Christian
faith, and urged him to put a stop to the proceedings of the Marranos
by instituting an Inquisition. João III thereupon commissioned George
Themudo to inquire into the life of the Marranos in Lisbon, their
headquarters, and to report to him upon it. Themudo was probably not
far from the truth when he informed the king (July, 1524) that some
Marranos observed the Sabbath and the Passover, that, on the other
hand, they joined in Christian rites and ceremonies as little as
possible, were not present at mass and divine service, did not go to
confession, did not ask that extreme unction be administered to the
dying, were buried in unconsecrated ground, not in a churchyard, that
they had no masses said for their departed relatives, and committed
other offenses of a similar character.
But João was not satisfied with Themudo's report; the Marranos were
put under an espionage system. A convert, an emigrant from Spain,
named Henrique Nunes, who afterwards received from the church the
honorary title Firme-Fé, was chosen by the king to spy upon them. In
the school of the bloodthirsty Lucero he had acquired a fierce hatred
of the Marranos, and it was his ardent wish to see the fagots kindled
in Portugal. To him the king gave secret instructions to insinuate
himself into the families of the converts, to associate with them as
a brother and companion in adversity, to observe them and report upon
all the information he could gain. Blinded by fanaticism and hatred
of his own race, Nunes did not consider how contemptible a rôle, that
of a common spy, was allotted to him. He undertook the work only too
willingly, learned all the secrets of the unhappy Marranos in Lisbon,
Evora and other places, and communicated all that he saw and heard
in letters to the king. He betrayed with a brother's kiss those who
showed him the hidden corners of their hearts. He informed the king not
only that he found no Catholic prayer-books in their houses, that they
had no holy images among their ornaments or on their plate, that they
did not care for rosaries and other things of that kind, but he gave
the names of the Jewish Marranos, making hateful accusations against
them. As soon as João received the desired intelligence, he resolved
to introduce the Inquisition on the Spanish model into his country,
and secretly sent the trusty Nunes to Charles V in Spain to learn
something more about it. The Marranos had got wind of this, and were
so furious with the treacherous spy, that two of them followed him to
punish his perfidy with death. These were Diego Vaz, of Olivença, and
André Dias, of Vianna, who were Franciscans, or disguised themselves in
monks' dress. They reached him not far from the Spanish frontier, near
Badajoz, and killed him with sword and spear. They found letters on him
about the installation of the Inquisition. The avengers, or murderers,
as the orthodox Christians called them, were discovered, brought to
trial, stretched on the rack to betray their accomplices, and finally
condemned to the gallows. But the traitor Nunes was regarded as a
martyr, almost canonized, and given the honorary title of "Firme-Fé"
(Firm Believer).
One would have expected the fanatical king after this occurrence to
pursue with greater zeal his object of establishing an Inquisition,
so as to proceed against the Jewish Marranos whose names he had
obtained from Nunes. The king did, indeed, institute a strict inquiry
to discover the accomplices of the two Marrano monks. Contrary to
expectation João issued no restrictions against the Marranos. Also
the inquiry about the conspirators for Nunes' death seems to have
been intentionally protracted as much as possible. Documents plainly
say that the king gave up the plan of establishing the Inquisition. A
chance, the boldness of an adventurer, appears in the first instance to
have brought about this favorable alteration in the mind of the weak,
vacillating king.
Coming from the far East, and emerging from obscurity, appeared a man
of whom it is hard to say whether he was an impostor or a foolish
fanatic, and whether he intended to play the role of a Messianic or
of a political adventurer, but he caused a great stir among Jews,
affecting the Marranos in the extreme West. David, an Oriental by
descent, long resident in Arabia and Nubia, suddenly appeared in Europe
in a peculiar character, and by means of both fiction and truth started
the wildest hopes. He declared himself a descendant of the old Hebrew
tribe of Reuben, which, he alleged, still flourished in Arabia in
independence, and he claimed to be a prince, the brother of a reigning
Jewish king. He, therefore, called himself David Reubeni.
Loving travel and adventure, he journeyed much in Arabia, Nubia and
Egypt, and came finally to Italy. The report was that he had been
sent by his brother, who commanded 300,000 chosen warriors, and by
the seventy elders of the land of Chaibar, to the European princes,
especially to the pope, to obtain firearms and cannon with which to
fight the Mahometan people, who hindered the union of the Jewish race
on both sides of the Red Sea, and to assist the brave Jewish army to
drive the Turks out of the Holy Land.
David Reubeni's appearance and manner were such as to inspire
confidence. In both, there was something strange, mysterious and
eccentric. He was of dark complexion and dwarfish in stature, and
so excessively thin that continuous fasts reduced him almost to a
skeleton. Possessed of courage and intrepidity, he had at the same time
a harsh manner that admitted of no familiarity. He only spoke Hebrew,
and that in so corrupt a jargon that neither Asiatic Jews nor those of
southern Europe understood him. He came to Rome (February, 1524), and
accompanied by a servant and an interpreter, rode on a white horse to
the Vatican, and requested an interview with Cardinal Giulio, in the
presence of other cardinals. Pope Clement also gave him audience, and
accepted his credentials.
Clement VII (1523-1534), one of the most excellent popes, an
illegitimate scion of the Florentine Medicis, was sensible and kind,
and earnestly desired to see Italy freed from the barbarians, that is,
the Germans. But he reigned at a time when Europe had lost its balance.
On the one side Luther and his Reformation, which gained ground daily,
threatened to undermine the papacy; and on the other, Charles V's
powerful realm, Spain and Germany with Burgundy and a part of America,
almost crushed Italy into servile dependence. If Clement quarreled
with the emperor, the latter favored the Reformation, and set about
restraining the papal power. If the pope became reconciled to him, the
liberty of Italy was menaced. Thus, notwithstanding his firm character,
he was continually wavering, and like most of his contemporaries had
recourse to astrology, in order to learn from the stars what was beyond
the wisdom of men.
To Pope Clement VII, David Reubeni seems to have handed letters of
introduction from Portuguese captains or business agents, whom he may
have met in Arabia or Nubia. These credentials the pope sent to the
Portuguese court, and when they were there declared trustworthy, David
was treated with the greatest distinction, and received all the honors
due an ambassador. He rode through Rome on a mule, accompanied by
ten Jews and more than two hundred Christians. The plan of a crusade
against Turkey, by which the most dangerous enemy of Christianity would
be driven out of the Holy Land by an Israelitish army, attracted the
pope, because it promised to restore to him the control of military
affairs, but its execution was thwarted by the complexities of his
position. Even the most incredulous of the Jews could not conceal from
themselves the astonishing fact that a Jew was treated with respect
and politeness by the Vatican, and were convinced that there must be
at least a grain of truth in David's report. Roman and foreign Jews
pressed round him who seemed to open a hopeful future to them. Señora
Benvenida Abrabanela, wife of the rich Samuel Abrabanel, sent him great
sums of money from Naples, a costly silk banner embroidered with the
Ten Commandments, and many rich garments. He, however, played his part
in a masterly manner, keeping the Jews at a respectful distance.
At length a formal invitation came from the king of Portugal, summoning
David Reubeni to his court. The latter left Rome, traveling by sea with
a Jewish flag on his ship. In Almeirin, the residence of king João
III near Santarem, where David arrived, like a wealthy prince, with a
numerous retinue bearing beautifully embroidered banners, he was also
treated with the greatest honor, and a scheme was discussed with him
as to how the weapons and cannons could be transported from Portugal
for the Israelite army in Arabia and Nubia. David's appearance in
Portugal seems to have changed the feeling towards the Marranos, and
João was persuaded to give up the intended persecution of them. For so
great an undertaking João would need their support, their money and
their advice. If he wished for an alliance with the Hebrew king and
people, he must not persecute the half-Jews in his own country. So
his zeal for the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal suddenly
cooled. One can imagine the astonishment and joy of the Marranos in
Portugal, when they understood that not only might a Jew be admitted
into Portugal, but that he was received at court, and treated with
respect. Thus, then, had come the hour of deliverance of which they
had so long dreamed. Unexpected help had come to them, freedom and
deliverance from their anguish; they breathed again. Whether or not
David Reubeni had declared himself the forerunner of the Messiah, did
not matter to the Marranos; they believed it, and counted the days to
the time when he would make them behold the new Jerusalem in all its
splendor. They pressed round him, kissed his hands, and treated him as
if he were their king. From Portugal the supposed message of salvation
passed to Spain to the still more unfortunate Marranos there, who
received it with ecstasies of joy. These poor people had fallen into a
morbid, eccentric, irresponsible state of mind. Daily and hourly they
suffered torments of soul, through having to join in religious customs
which they abhorred with their whole heart. It was no wonder that
many of them lost their mental balance, and became quite mad. In the
vicinity of Herrara, a Marrano maiden proclaimed herself a prophetess;
fell into trances and had visions; declared that she had seen Moses
and the angels, and promised to lead her suffering companions into the
Holy Land. She found many believers among the Marranos, and when this
was discovered, she was burned together with thirty-eight adherents.
Messianic expectation, that is, redemption through a miracle, made the
atmosphere in which the Marranos breathed and lived. At the news of
the arrival of an ambassador from a Jewish kingdom at the Portuguese
court, a crowd of Spanish converts fled to Portugal to be near their
supposed redeemer. David, who enjoyed the privilege of traveling
about in Portugal, appears to have behaved very circumspectly: he gave
them no promises, and did not encourage them openly to acknowledge
Judaism. He knew well that he was walking on the edge of a precipice,
and that one expression, one act of his directed towards bringing
back new-Christians to Judaism might cost him his life. Nevertheless,
all eyes were fastened on him; all were aroused and excited by the
wonderful events which would certainly come to pass.
David Reubeni's appearance and the hopes it awakened took strongest
hold upon one noble, talented, handsome youth; indeed, the whole
course of his existence was changed. Diogo Pires (born about 1501,
died a martyr, 1532), whose glowing, poetic imagination under more
favorable circumstances might have accomplished much in the domain
of the beautiful, became a tool in the hands of the self-proclaimed
envoy from Chaibar. Pires, who was born a new-Christian, had acquired
a good education; he understood and could speak Latin, the universal
language of the time. He had risen to be royal secretary at a high
court of justice, and was a great favorite at court. With Hebrew and
rabbinic literature he must have been familiar from his earliest
youth, and he had been initiated into the Kabbala, probably by one of
the Marrano teachers. At the time when David and his chimerical plans
made so much stir in Portugal, Diogo Pires was completely possessed by
wild dreams and visions, all of which had a Messianic background. He
hastened, therefore, to David, to ascertain whether his mission was
in accordance with these visionary revelations. David Reubeni appears
to have treated him with coldness, and to have told him plainly that
his military embassy had nothing to do with Messianic mysticism. But
Diogo Pires fancied the coldness of the alleged envoy to be owing to
the circumstance that he had not accepted the sign of the covenant,
and he forthwith proceeded to undergo the dangerous operation of
circumcision. The consequent loss of blood laid him on a sick bed.
David was highly incensed when Pires told him of this, as both of them
would be in danger, if it came to the king's ears that a Marrano had
so emphatically and openly declared himself a Jew; for it would be
asserted that David had persuaded him to take this course.
After circumcision Pires (who took the name of Solomon Molcho) had yet
more terrible visions, owing presumably to his bodily weakness. Their
import always had reference to the Marranos and their redemption by
the Messiah. According to his own account a strange being (Maggid),
who communed with him from Heaven in a dream, charged him to leave
Portugal and set out for Turkey. David Reubeni also had advised that
he should leave Portugal with all speed, as the act of circumcision
might involve also David in danger, and frustrate his schemes. Leaving
Portugal cannot, then, have been difficult for Marranos. Diogo Pires
(or Solomon Molcho) reached Turkey, and hoped for a Messianic mission
and a martyr's death.
A great sensation was made there by this enthusiastic, handsome young
Kabbalist, the new Jewish recruit. At first he gave himself out as a
delegate from David Reubeni, of whose good reception at the papal and
Portuguese courts rumors were current even in the East, and had not
failed to inflame people's imagination. In Salonica, Joseph Taytasak's
Kabbalistic circle took possession of him, and greedily listened to
his dreams and visions. At Adrianople Molcho converted to the Kabbala
the sober-minded Joseph Karo, who had left Spain when a boy, and had
hitherto busied himself entirely with Talmudic learning. Enthusiasm is
infectious. Karo fell into the same Kabbalistic enthusiasm as Molcho.
He also had his dream-prompter (Maggid), who taught him inelegant,
mystical interpretations of Scriptural passages, and revealed the
future. He was so faithful an imitator that, like Molcho, he lived
in the most certain expectation of being burnt at the stake as a
"burnt-sacrifice of a sweet savour unto the Lord." Molcho inoculated
his followers with a longing for martyrdom. His captivating person,
pure enthusiasm, romantic disposition, past career, astonishing
knowledge of the Kabbala (though born a Christian), everything
connected with him, raised up a host of adherents, who greedily
listened to his mystic utterances, and believingly accepted them.
He often preached, and words flowed like a torrent from his lips.
Gray-headed men went with questions to the youth, seeking explanations
of obscure verses of Scripture, or revelations of the future. At the
urgent request of his friends in Salonica he published a brief abstract
of his Kabbalistic sermons, the substance of which was: The advent of
the Messiah is at hand; his reign will begin at the end of the year
5300 dating from the creation (1540). The sack and havoc of Rome (May
5th, 1527), confirmed the Messianic hopes of Kabbalistic zealots. Rome,
the iniquitous Catholic Babylon, filled with the spoils of the whole
earth, was taken by storm by German soldiers, mostly Lutherans, and
was treated almost as a hostile city by order of the Catholic emperor,
Charles V. The fall of Rome, according to Messianic and apocalyptic
principles, had been predicted as a sign of the Messiah's advent. Now
Rome had fallen. In Asia, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and Germany, hopes
of the coming of the Messiah were stirring in Jewish hearts, and were
associated with the name of Solomon Molcho, who was to bring about
their realization.
In Spain and Portugal the Marranos held yet more firmly to their
visions of Messianic redemption, and to David Reubeni, whom, with or
without his consent, they took for a forerunner of the Messiah. Their
illusion was so complete that they boldly inaugurated enterprises which
could only end in death for themselves. Several Spanish Marranos,
condemned to the stake, had curiously enough found a place of refuge
in Portugal (in Campo-Mayor), where they were suffered to remain
unmolested. A company of young people from among them ventured to
attack Badajoz, whence they had fled, for the purpose of rescuing some
Marrano women languishing in the Inquisition dungeons. Their irruption
greatly alarmed the inhabitants, but they succeeded in rescuing the
unfortunate victims. The incident made a great stir in both countries,
and led to most prejudicial results for the pseudo-Christians. This
occurrence, as well as the denunciation of several Marranos for
disrespect to an image of the Virgin Mary, again induced the king to
consider the scheme of establishing a court of Inquisition. David
Reubeni's favor with the king of Portugal was of brief duration. He
was at first received by João III with extraordinary friendliness,
and often admitted to audience (when conversation was carried on
by means of an Arab and Portuguese interpreter), and received the
distinct promise that eight ships and 4,000 firearms should be placed
at his disposal to enable his brother, the alleged king of Chaibar,
to make war upon the Turks and Arabs, but the king gradually cooled
down. Miguel de Silva, Portuguese ambassador at the papal court while
David was at Rome, had held the alleged Jewish prince of Chaibar
to be an adventurer. He was recalled to Portugal, and opposing the
other councilors, who were deluded by David's daring character, made
strenuous efforts to deprive him of the king's favor. Moreover, the
homage so remarkably and openly offered to him by the Marranos had
roused suspicion concerning him. Miguel de Silva, intrusted with the
commission to establish the Inquisition in Portugal, pointed out
that the king himself, by favoring the alleged Jewish prince, plainly
fortified the Marranos in their unbelief, or adherence to the Jewish
cause. Then came the circumcision and flight of the royal secretary,
Diogo Pires (Solomon Molcho). This occurrence gave great offense at the
Portuguese court, and it was insinuated to the king that David had been
his abettor.
Thus it came to pass that David Reubeni suddenly received orders
to quit Portugal after he had tarried there and been treated with
distinction for nearly a twelvemonth. Only two months' grace before
embarkation was granted him. The ship that carried him and his retinue
was cast away on the Spanish coast, and David was taken prisoner in
Spain, where he was forced to appear before the Inquisition. However,
before that could take place, Emperor Charles set him free, and David
Reubeni betook himself to Avignon, under papal jurisdiction. As soon
as King João broke with David Reubeni, every reason for sparing the
Marranos vanished. The vacillating king was hard-pressed by the queen,
the Dominicans, and some of the nobles, to decide on introducing the
Inquisition. The bishop of Ceuta, Henrique, formerly a Franciscan monk
and a fanatical priest, brought about the decision. In his diocese of
Olivença five new-Christians were suspected of Jewish practices. He
made short work of them. Without greatly troubling as to whether the
tribunal of the Inquisition was or was not sanctioned by the pope, and
legally established by the king, he prepared stakes and fagots, and
burnt the victims to death, having condemned them without regular trial
(about 1530). The people jubilantly applauded him, and celebrated the
murder of these Jewish-Christians with bull-fights. Far from wishing to
hide his deed, Henrique boasted of it, and pressed the king to commence
in earnest the chastisement of the heretical and sinful new-Christians.
João decided to address himself to Pope Clement respecting the
organization of commissions of inquiry in Portugal.
But there were still some priests left from the previous reign who
loudly raised their voices against this violent treatment of the
Marranos. Two especially deserve to have their names made known to
posterity--Ferdinand Coutinho, bishop of Algarve, and Diogo Pinheiro,
bishop of Funchal. They had been witnesses of the inhuman cruelties
with which, under Manoel, the Jews were driven to baptism, and in no
way could recognize them as Christians, neither when there was question
of punishing them for relapsing into heresy, nor of intrusting them
with judicial power or spiritual benefice. Coutinho, untiring in
ridicule of the mistaken zeal of the younger priests, reminded the
king that Pope Clement VII himself had not long before allowed several
Marranos to acknowledge Judaism openly in the very city of Rome.
This pope, convinced of the injustice shown to new-Christians, with
the consent of the college of cardinals had given them an asylum at
Ancona, permitting them freely to confess themselves Jews. In Florence
and Venice also they could live without molestation. Nay, the papal
consistory itself had given out that the Portuguese Marranos were to
be regarded as Jews. He considered, so Coutinho expressed himself
in his friendly consideration of the question, that instead of the
new-Christians, accused of outraging what Christians hold sacred,
the witnesses ought to be punished for bearing false testimony. The
new-Christians should be won to the true faith only by gentle means. At
length the king decided to submit the question to the pope, who, should
he sanction the establishment of the Inquisition, would at the same
time absolve him from the promises made to the Marranos. The Portuguese
ambassador at Rome, Bras Neto, received orders to obtain a bull to
that effect from the pope. But what so easily, by a stroke of the pen,
had been conceded to Spain, cost the king of Portugal many efforts and
a struggle, and he was never able fully to enjoy his Inquisition.
Now the weak hand of the amiable Kabbalist Solomon Molcho seized the
spokes of this revolving wheel. From the East he had gone to Italy
to fulfill the Messianic mission with which he was inspired, or with
which he was credited. He wished to speak fearlessly before princes, in
the capital of Christendom, of the approaching redemption. At Ancona,
where he arrived with followers towards the end of 1529, certain
malevolent persons, according to his own story, persecuted him. They
were in fact prudent men, who were informed of his life in the East,
and feared that, as a result of his impetuous striving for martyrdom,
evil consequences would ensue for Jews all over the world, or at least
for the Marranos in Italy, Portugal and Spain. Molcho, when cited,
is understood to have confessed fearlessly that he preferred Judaism
because it taught the truth. The bishop of Ancona discharged him as
one of the Portuguese Marranos to whom freedom of religious confession
had been allowed by the pope and the cardinals, but forbade him to
preach against Christianity. Molcho remained some time at Ancona,
where his preaching became very popular, even priests and Christians
of the higher classes coming to the synagogue. However, he seems to
have compromised himself, and in consequence repaired to Pesaro with
the duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria della Rovere I, who thought a
settlement of Marranos in his little state would be advantageous. But
there was no rest for Molcho; he burnt with impatience to be at Rome
to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, though without any
clear conception of what to do. He waited for some prompting from on
high, which, he believed, could not fail him. In obedience to a vision
he abandoned his retinue at Pesaro, and set out alone on horseback
for Rome. At the first sight of the Eternal City his feelings overcame
him, for Molcho, like Luther, held Rome to be the seat of anti-Christ;
he sank into fervent prayer, imploring redemption and forgiveness of
sin for Israel. A voice broke in upon his prayer, predicting in verses
of the Bible, "Edom (Rome) shall be the heritage of Israel, his foot
shall be unsteady, but Israel will gain the victory." In this mood he
entered Rome, and took up his abode at an inn kept by Christians. He
put on a tattered suit, blackened his face, wrapped dirty rags around
his feet, and leaving his horse and clothes at the inn, he took his
stand among the tribe of beggars on the bridge over the Tiber, opposite
the pope's palace. This equipment was in accordance with Messianic
tradition, which had it that the Messiah would tarry amongst the lepers
and ragged beggars of Rome, to be summoned thence to triumph. For
thirty consecutive days the Portuguese enthusiast led this miserable
existence, neither eating meat nor drinking wine, but contenting
himself with the scantiest and poorest fare, and waiting for the
prophetic ecstasy.
In this condition of bodily tension and mental exaltation, Molcho fell
into a deep sleep, and had a confused dream, noteworthy because part
of it was afterwards fulfilled to the very letter. It was predicted
in this vision that a devastating flood would break over Rome and
a northern country, and his native land be panic-stricken by an
earthquake, that when he himself reached his thirtieth year he would
be raised to a higher degree, and clad in Byssus, because of his own
free will he had devoted himself to death. He would return to Rome, but
leave it again before the flood took place. Then the Holy Spirit, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, would rest on the Messianic king,
the dead would rise from the dust, and God give His people glory.
Next morning, enfeebled by his long mortification and his troubled
sleep, Molcho dragged himself back to his inn, and rested. He laid
aside his disguise, and went out to hold converse with Jews (February,
1530). Being still a complete stranger in Rome, and in order to avoid
the denunciation of his opponents, he gave himself out as a messenger
from Solomon Molcho. In spite of this he was recognized, and denounced
to the Inquisition as a seditious Marrano. He had some time previously
entered into intercourse with the pope and some of the cardinals, to
whom he predicted the flood. Clement VII, who for several years had
been drinking of the cup of sorrow, and experiencing humiliations such
as had fallen to the lot of few popes before him, who had been forced
to crown at Bologna his deadly enemy, Charles V, as king of Italy and
emperor of Rome (February 22d-24th, 1530), was but too readily inclined
to listen to dreams and visions. Other unknown relations may have
existed between the pope and Molcho, in consequence of which the latter
was regarded with surprising favor by the pope. Molcho had friends also
among the cardinals. Lorenzo Pucci, for example, grand penitentiary of
the papal see, who had taken Reuchlin's part against the Dominicans,
was attached to him. Hence, while the papal police were lying in wait
for Molcho, at the gates of Rome, he escaped over the walls, and
hastened to the pope, from whom he obtained a pontifical passport that
guaranteed him against harm.
Furnished with this, Molcho came back secretly to Rome, and one
Saturday suddenly appeared in the chief synagogue, where, to the
astonishment of all present, he preached on a text taken from the
prophetical portion. His adherents in Rome increased so largely that he
preached in the synagogue every Sabbath until autumn, without meeting
with opposition. He inspired his hearers, yet seemed powerless to
disarm his opponents. Molcho was the Jewish Savonarola. He spoke with
unshakable certainty of his visions, and even announced to the king
of Portugal (through the ambassador, Bras Neto) the earthquake which
threatened Lisbon, so that precautionary measures might be taken.
Molcho was himself so firmly convinced that the flood would come to
pass that, when the predicted time approached, he went to Venice.
Molcho and David Reubeni, who meanwhile had returned from Avignon to
Italy, again met face to face. They looked at each other coldly and
with amazement; each expected miracles from the other. Each desired the
other to acknowledge his sublime mission. They were both embarrassed.
Molcho's eyes were opened on this occasion to the true character of his
once-admired master. He no longer believed in Reubeni's ignorance, but
felt convinced that, Talmudic and Kabbalistic learning not being in
keeping with his character as an Arabian prince, it was assumed by him
in order to deceive people. Molcho even recanted his declaration that
he was David's emissary. "Before the God of heaven and earth I proclaim
the truth, that my circumcision and the abandonment of my country were
not counseled by flesh and blood (David), but took place at the express
command of God." Molcho was a deluded enthusiast, whereas David was
an adventurer intentionally deceiving others. After his unsuccessful
attempt to win over the king of Portugal and Charles V to his schemes,
David went to Venice with the purpose of influencing the president of
that republic, which had close relations with the East. Remarkably
enough he found sympathy there; the Venetian senate sent a man well
acquainted with the country to question him respecting his plan and
means of conquest in the East (1530).
Both Molcho and David were harassed by the more temperate Jews, who
apprehended danger for themselves and their religion. While at Venice
Molcho was poisoned by Jewish hands, and fell into a dangerous illness.
Meanwhile the inundation of Rome predicted really took place,
transforming the city into a stormy lake, and causing great havoc
(October 8th, 1530). At the same time a brilliant comet appeared,
shooting out rays of light till the heavens seemed about to open. In
Portugal the earth shook thrice, and the earthquake destroyed a number
of houses in Lisbon, many persons being buried beneath the ruins
(January 26th, 1531).
After the inundation of Rome, Molcho again appeared in that city,
where he was honored as a prophet. The pope, to whom he had predicted
the calamity, seems to have lavished his affections upon him, and he
bestowed public marks of honor upon him. The Portuguese ambassador,
Bras Neto, told him that if the king of Portugal had known how favored
a man in God's sight was Molcho, and how well able to read the future,
he would have permitted him to dwell in his dominions. And this was the
moment when the ambassador received the mandate from his sovereign to
work secretly for a bull from the papal see introducing the Inquisition
against the Marranos! A more unfavorable time could not have been
chosen. The affair was laid for decision before the grand penitentiary,
Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci. But the latter, as well as Pope Clement,
influenced by Solomon Molcho, strongly opposed the proposal from the
beginning. Pucci straightforwardly said to the Portuguese ambassador,
"The king of Portugal, like the king of Spain, is more attracted by the
Marranos' wealth than concerned about the orthodoxy of their creed;
let him rather leave them free to live according to their own law, and
punish only those who, after voluntarily embracing Catholicism, relapse
to the Jewish faith." For the moment Bras Neto was powerless. He even
feared Molcho's influence with the pope, and kept his doings secret,
lest anything come to the ears of the Marranos in Portugal, and they
supply Molcho with money wherewith to bribe the pope's retainers to
work against the establishment of the Inquisition.
All this time Molcho was untiringly persecuted by his fellow-believers,
more especially by his enemy, Jacob Mantin, the learned but
unscrupulous physician and philologist. This revengeful man came from
Venice to Rome for no other purpose than to cause the ruin of him whom
he gratuitously hated. He took the Portuguese ambassador fairly to
task for allowing a former Portuguese Christian, who preached against
Christianity, to remain at liberty in Rome. As the ambassador would
not listen to him, Mantin carried his complaint to the Inquisition.
He procured witnesses from Portugal who testified that Solomon Molcho
had lived as a Christian in Portugal, and managed to have him cited
before the congregation. Hereupon Molcho exhibited his passport from
the pope, trusting with such support to remain unmolested; but the
Inquisitors tore it from his hands, and betook themselves to the pope,
to whom they represented how indecent it was that he should protect a
scoffer at Christianity. Clement replied that he needed Molcho for a
secret purpose, and requested that he be left undisturbed. When the
Inquisition showed itself inclined to disregard his denunciation,
Mantin raised new points against Molcho. He contrived to get possession
of the letter which some years before Molcho had written from Monastir
to Joseph Taytasak, respecting his past life and his return to Judaism,
translated it into Latin, and laid it before the tribunal. As the
letter undoubtedly contained abuse against Edom, _i.e._, against
Rome and Christianity, the Inquisition was forced to take notice of
it, and Clement also no longer dared set his face against Mantin's
denunciation. The congregation now proceeded with the case, and
sentenced Molcho to be burnt to death. A funeral pile was built up,
and the fagots kindled. People came in crowds to the place to witness
the attractive sight. A wretched victim brought thither in penitential
shroud was thrown without ceremony into the fire. One of the judges
informed the pope that the act of faith had been completed by the
offender's death. The judge and the witnesses of the execution are
said to have felt no small astonishment when Solomon Molcho alive was
encountered in the pope's apartments.
It seems that Clement, to save his favorite's life, foisted in some one
else, who ascended the scaffold, whilst Solomon Molcho was kept hidden
in the pope's chambers.
The pope himself communicated this fact to the perplexed judge,
enjoining silence in order that Jews and Christians might not have
fresh fuel to feed their excitement. Solomon Molcho was saved, but he
dared no longer remain in Rome; that was plain even to him, and he
begged the pope to let him go. Escorted by a few faithful servants of
the pope, Solomon Molcho rode out of Rome at night (February or March,
1531).
After Molcho's departure from Rome, especially after the death of
Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci (August, 1531), a different feeling towards
the Marranos sprang up. A Portuguese agent obtained from the pope,
who was urged thereto by Emperor Charles and the grand penitentiary,
Antonio Pucci, the successor to his uncle, the bull establishing
the Inquisition, so long prayed for (December 17th, 1531), although
Cardinals Egidio de Viterbo, Elias Levita's disciple, and Geronimo
de Ghinucci, had declared against it. As though this mild-tempered
pope were ashamed of allowing his former _protégés_ to be persecuted,
he bracketed the Lutherans with them. He was careful, too, not to
permit the fanatical Dominicans to acquire power over the Marranos.
The king's confessor, a Franciscan, the gentle-minded Diogo de Silva,
was appointed inquisitor general of Portugal. Three tribunals were
established, at Lisbon, Evora, and Coimbra, with the "Constitutions"
of the Spanish courts introduced by Torquemada, and improved, that is,
made severer, by his successors. After the king and the grandees had
withdrawn their protection, the Portuguese Marranos were in a far worse
plight than their Spanish brethren. The populace had long so hated them
that even otherwise upright Christians turned informers, whereas in
Spain spies had to be specially hired for the purpose.
When the Inquisition began its execrable work many of the Marranos
naturally contemplated leaving the country. But flight was not easy;
it was with them as with their forefathers when they came out of Egypt
--the foe behind, the sea, with all its dangers and terrors, in
front. A law was made (June 14th, 1532) strictly forbidding emigration
to Africa, not even excepting the Portuguese colonies. Captains
were warned, under penalty of death, not to carry Marranos, and all
Christians were prohibited from buying real estate of new-Christians;
these were not permitted to send their goods away to foreign countries,
nor effect exchanges at home. Nevertheless, many of them prepared for
emigration, in order "to flee from the land touched by the poisonous
serpent" (the Inquisition); but before they could even set foot on
board ship, they and their wives and children were seized, and hurried
away to gloomy dungeons, whence they were dragged to the stake. Others
perished in the waves of the sea before they could reach the vessel
which was to bring them to a place of safety. Many were drawn forth
from the most hidden retreats, and burnt to death. Those who escaped
from the claws of this bloodthirsty monster found no relief in strange
lands--they were imprisoned in Flanders, arrested in France, unkindly
received in England. In addition to such torments many lost their
fortunes, and, in consequence, their lives. Those who reached Germany
succumbed in extreme misery on the Alps, leaving wives about to become
mothers, who, on cold and deserted roads, brought forth children, and
endured a new form of misfortune.
Nevertheless, the Marranos did not intermit their attempts to escape,
but prosecuted them with increased caution. No other way out of their
troubles was left. Appeals to justice and humanity, and the urging of
their chartered rights and privileges, found none but deaf ears in the
cabinet.
Marranos who escaped to Rome made bitter complaints to Pope Clement
of the inhumanity with which the Inquisition persecuted them and
their brethren, and urged that the king had obtained the bull by
fraud, inasmuch as the facts of the case had not been set before the
papal consistory in a proper light. They especially complained that
emigration was prohibited, in direct opposition to the legal equality
which had been granted. Clement VII, who regretted that he had
issued the bull, to which he had been forced, sympathized with their
grievances. He may have felt, too, that the fires of the Inquisition,
employed against those who were neither Catholics nor willing converts,
branded the Catholic Church, and gave the Lutherans more material to
continue their hostile assaults, to depict it as bloodthirsty and a
just object of hatred. Moreover, he was well aware that the Inquisition
had been introduced into Portugal only because Spain and his arch-foe,
Emperor Charles, desired it, with the object of placing Portugal in an
unequivocally dependent condition. Hence Clement revolved a plan to
revoke the bull. At this time Solomon Molcho and David Reubeni resumed
their mystical activity, and conceived the daring scheme of going to
the emperor at Ratisbon, where the Reichstag was then assembled. With
a floating banner, embroidered with the letters "Machbi" (initials of
the Hebrew words of the verse, "Who is like unto thee among the gods,
O Lord"), they traveled from Bologna, by way of Ferrara and Mantua, to
Ratisbon. Emperor Charles gave them audience, and they probably pleaded
the cause of the Jews earnestly. An unwarranted and improbable report
affirms that they attempted to convert the emperor to the Jewish faith.
But they were not so heedless as to make this attempt. They simply
petitioned the emperor to permit the Marranos to arm themselves, and,
joining the Jewish tribes, attack the Turks. Joslin of Rosheim, who
was also in Ratisbon, vainly warned them not to make this request. The
end was that Charles put them both in chains (June-September, 1532),
and carried them fettered to Mantua. The banner was left at Ratisbon.
An inquisition, at the emperor's wish, was set on foot at Mantua, and
Molcho was condemned to be burnt to death for relapse and heresy. While
the emperor was diverting himself by triumphal processions, festivals,
hunting, plays, and all imaginable merry-makings, the funeral pile
of the Lisbon Marrano was built up, and set on fire. They led him to
the place of execution with a gag in his mouth, for his eloquence
was so powerful and persuasive that emperor and tribunal feared its
effect on the crowd. He was, therefore, forced to keep silence. But
when the executioners were ready to throw him into the blazing fire,
a courier from the emperor arrived, removed the gag, and asked him
in the emperor's name, whether he repented of his transgressions and
was willing to return to the bosom of the church; if so, he should
be pardoned. As might have been expected, Molcho replied that he had
longed to die a martyr, "a burnt-sacrifice, of a sweet savour unto the
Lord," that he repented him of only one thing--that he had been a
Christian in his youth. Come life, come death, he commended his soul
unto God. Then he was thrown into the midst of the flames, and died
with unshaken constancy.
Molcho was the victim of a phantasmagoria, a delusion, into which, at
feud with reality, he allowed himself to fall. The rich gifts bestowed
on him by nature--a handsome person, glowing imagination, quick
perception, ready enthusiasm--which would have been steps on the
ladder of fortune for any character less fantastical, only served to
ruin him, because, swept into the vortex of the Kabbala, he fondly
hoped to accomplish the work of redemption. David Reubeni had not even
the martyr's crown. Charles carried him to Spain, and cast him into a
dungeon of the Inquisition, in which he was still living three years
afterwards. It appears that he was at length put to death by poison. As
a Jew, the Inquisition had no power over him. But many of the Spanish
Marranos who had had intercourse with him, and whose names he probably
betrayed on the rack, were burnt to death.
Enthusiasm for Molcho was so great that a mistaken faith was pinned
to him, and various fictions respecting him were invented. In Italy
and Turkey numbers believed that he had on this occasion, as once
before, escaped death. Some said that they had seen him a week after
his auto-da-fé; others gave out that he had visited his bride at
Safet. Joseph Karo, whose name was soon to be widely known, longed for
martyrdom like Molcho's. Even the circumspect Joseph Cohen of Genoa, a
careful historian, averse to belief in miracles, was dazed, and knew
not what to think of the affair. An Italian Kabbalist, Joseph of Arli,
would not abandon the hope that the time of the Messiah, as announced
and prepared by Molcho, would soon dawn on the Jewish world. Molcho's
death, according to him, would soon find avengers. By a childish
transposing of the letters of two verses in Isaiah (Notaricon), he
predicted the downfall of the religion of Jesus from various causes:
Luther's agitation, the many new sects springing up among Christians,
the recent sack of Rome, and the mutually inimical attitude of the pope
and the emperor.
The Kabbalist of Arli was ill-disposed towards the pope, though
unreasonably so, for he was certainly not guilty of Molcho's death; on
the contrary, the pope had to look on while the emperor, to gain his
own ends, executed one, and imprisoned the other, of his favorites.
However, Clement seems to have made a countermove. He strove to bring
about the revocation of the fatal bull authorizing the institution
of the Inquisition in Portugal, or at least to make it less drastic
in its effects. The Marranos knew this, and made every effort to
win the papal curia to their side. As soon as they understood that
Solomon Molcho, their most successful advocate, was no longer to
be reckoned upon, they sent another envoy to Rome, to bring their
grievances before the pope and defend their cause. This new advocate
of the Marranos, Duarte de Paz, was the very opposite in character
to Molcho: cool-headed, far removed from any extravagance, cunning,
calculating, bold, and eloquent, initiated into all the trickery of
diplomacy, possessing profound knowledge of human nature, and able to
make use of men's foibles for his own ends. Duarte de Paz for nearly
eight years looked after the interests of Portuguese new-Christians.
He was himself of Marrano descent, and as a reward for his services
to the Portuguese court in Africa had obtained an important post and
the confidence of King João III. Chosen by the king to perform a
secret mission, and made a knight of the order of Christ (styled also
Commendatore) on the day of his departure, he set out, not for the
appointed place, but for Rome, to work for the Marranos. Duarte de Paz
entwined the threads of his intrigues so intricately that to this day
it is impossible to ascertain exactly whom he deceived, whether the
king or the Marranos. His clients, the Marranos, kept him well supplied
with money, which, for good or evil, was almighty at the pope's court.
Duarte de Paz obtained substantial successes in return for his pains
and his presents. Clement was convinced anew that most atrocious
injustice was done the new-Christians in demanding Catholic orthodoxy
from those who had been dragged with brutal force to be baptized, and
in denying them liberty to journey beyond the confines of Portugal.
The pope issued an apostolical brief (October 17th, 1532) stopping
the proceedings of the Inquisition until further notice. Duarte de
Paz continued his efforts in order to procure a general pardon for
all Marranos denounced or imprisoned. It appears that intrigues were
set on foot in favor of the Marranos even at the court of João III.
The party in favor of the Inquisition worked for Spanish interests,
and, in view of the probability of the king's remaining without issue,
was eagerly bent on making the Portuguese crown one with the Spanish.
On the other side, the national party, which sought to preserve the
independence of Portugal, seems to have been against the Inquisition.
Hence plotting and counter-plotting continued for several years to
such an extent, that the inquisitor general, Diogo de Silva (appointed
by the pope himself), declared that he would not undertake so great
a responsibility, and resigned his office. Duarte de Paz obtained a
second extraordinarily important brief from Pope Clement. The pope
recognized as fair and legitimate the reasons urged by new-Christians
to justify their lack of attachment to the church.
"Since they were dragged by force to be baptized, they cannot
be considered members of the church, and to punish them for
heresy and relapse were to violate the principles of justice
and equity. With sons and daughters of the first Marranos the
case is different, they belong to the church as voluntary
members. But, as they have been brought up by their relatives
in the midst of Judaism, and have had their example continually
before their eyes, it would be cruel to punish them according
to the canonical law for falling into Jewish ways and beliefs;
they must be kept in the bosom of the church through gentle
treatment."
By this brief Clement VII abrogated the power of the Portuguese
Inquisition, ordered that denunciation of Marranos should be carried
before his own tribunal, and granted to all a thorough absolution or
amnesty for past defection from the church. Those languishing in the
dungeons of the Inquisition were to be set free, the banished allowed
to return, and those robbed of their goods to have them restored.
Clement declared, with the peculiar untruthfulness of the papacy,
from which even the best popes were unable to free themselves, that
he had issued this brief of his own accord, without the suggestion of
the Marranos, although the whole world knew the contrary, and counted
up how many scudi the see had received for the letter. Clement also
declared all who should resist this brief, clergy as well as laity, to
be under the ban, and urgently pressed his envoy, Marco della Ruvere,
to make it known throughout Portugal. To do Pope Clement VII justice,
it must be said that he steadfastly defended the cause of humanity
towards the unhappy Marranos against the bloodthirsty spirit of the
Christianity of his time, though it must be admitted that other and not
quite pure motives may have conduced to his action--viz., hatred of
Charles V, who upheld the proposal for a Portuguese Inquisition, and
greed for the sums of money paid him and his retainers. The thought of
delivering the Marranos to the tender mercies of those bloody-minded
wretches in Portugal was not to be lightly endured. Although the
question had been thoroughly discussed, Clement appointed a commission,
consisting of the two neutral cardinals, De Cesis and Campeggio, to
consider the matter once more. The grand penitentiary, Antonio Pucci,
Cardinal de Santiquatro, could not be excluded, although a partisan
of the Portuguese court. Nevertheless, this commission officially
attested the perpetration of devilish atrocities by the Inquisition
against pseudo-Christians. In consequence of their report, Clement VII
(July 26th, 1534), feeling that his end was near, issued a brief to the
nuncio at the Portuguese court to press the release and absolution of
imprisoned Marranos. There were about twelve hundred of them, and it
may be doubted whether this brief effected their deliverance. Clement's
death (September 25th, 1534) brought to naught his good intentions and
the Marranos' hopes.
Intrigues concerning the Inquisition were woven anew under his
successor, Paul III Farnese (1534-1549), at first to the prejudice
of the Marranos, though this pope belonged to the old school of
worldly-minded, diplomatic, by no means bigoted princes of the church.
He was a subtle schemer, and paid more attention to earthly than to
heavenly powers. Paul III was specially well-disposed to Jews. If a
description by a narrow-minded bishop (Sadolet of Carpentras) is true
only to a small extent, it still proves that this friendliness must
have been remarkable. "No pope has ever bestowed on Christians so many
honors, such privileges and concessions as Paul III has given to the
Jews. They are not only assisted, but positively armed with benefits
and prerogatives." Paul III had a Jewish physician in ordinary, Jacob
Mantin, who dedicated some of his works to him.
As soon as Paul III had ascended the papal chair, the king of Portugal
deemed it most important to procure a revocation of Clement's bulls
and briefs in favor of the Marranos, and opposed to the Inquisition.
But Duarte de Paz, the Marranos' advocate, who had been given an aid
in Diogo Rodrigues Pinto, spared no effort to oppose the contemplated
change of policy. Gold also was not wanting. Duarte de Paz, although
apparently engaged in a traitorous correspondence with the king, Don
João, offered Cardinal Santiquatro, the partisan of Portugal, a yearly
pension of 800 crusados, if he would give his support to the Marranos.
The pope, diplomatically cautious as he was, and disinclined to bind
himself, decided at first (November 3d, 1534), that Clement's brief
should not be promulgated. But when he learned that it had already
taken effect, he ordered the case to be again considered, and for
that purpose named two cardinals, Ghinucci and Simoneta, of whom the
first decidedly favored the Marranos, having published a work in
their defense. The result of their investigation was that Paul III
emphatically admonished the Portuguese court to obey Clement VII's
bull of absolution. He was decidedly opposed to the imprisonment of
Marranos in inaccessible dungeons and against the confiscation of
their property. But the Catholic kings of that day showed obedience
to the papal see only as long as it suited them and their interest;
so João III paid but small heed to the pope's admonition. His envoy
even advised him, in order to carry on the Inquisition, to cut himself
adrift from the Romish Church as England had done. A complete web of
intrigues was spun over this affair in Rome and Portugal. In Portugal
the court was on the one side, and the Marrano leaders, Thomé Sarrão
and Manuel Mendes, with the papal legate on the other--at Rome,
Duarte de Paz and Pinto, against or with the Portuguese ambassador and
against Cardinal Santiquatro.
Disgusted and wearied, Paul III, who did not readily give up an
intention once formed, issued a new, decisive bull (October 2d, 1535),
giving absolution to the Marranos, and protecting them against all
clerical and civil penalties for relapse and heresy, provided that they
would not be guilty of similar offenses in future. The Inquisition in
Portugal, which for the sake of appearance could not proceed without
the authorization of the pope, was once again arrested. The nuncio set
to work energetically, made the bull known throughout Portugal, and
carried matters so far, that even the inimically disposed Infante Don
Alfonso opened the prison doors to free those whose release was so
pressingly recommended by Rome. Altogether there were eighteen hundred
Marranos liberated (December, 1535).
At first dazed as by a sudden blow, the Portuguese court later on set
every lever in motion once more to obtain sovereign power over the
Marranos and their property. It did not shrink from assassination to
gain its ends. One day Duarte de Paz was attacked on the high road by
assassins, and left lying there for dead, covered with fourteen wounds
(January, 1536). All Rome believed the murderers to be hirelings of the
Portuguese court. The pope was greatly provoked at this crime, and sent
physicians to pay every attention to the procurator, who eventually
recovered. Nevertheless, with respect to the Inquisition, the pope
had to comply with the wishes of the Portuguese court, which had at
last found out the right way to reach its goal. It had recourse to the
victorious Charles V, urgently requesting him to manage the affair.
Just at that time the emperor had fought a hard battle near Tunis with
the Mahometan Barbarossa, who, supported by Turkey, had disquieted all
Christendom. After many struggles, the numerous host of Christians, led
by Charles himself, gained the day, and Barbarossa was defeated.
When Charles arrived in Rome after a triumphal progress through Italy,
he asked the pope, as a reward of his victory for Christianity, to
authorize the Inquisition in Portugal. Paul III did not yield without
a struggle. He always returned to the contention that the Portuguese
Marranos were originally dragged by force to be baptized, and that,
therefore, the sacrament had no hold upon them.
Unfortunately for the Marranos, their means for satisfying the
greed of the papal court for gold were exhausted. Their advocate,
Duarte de Paz, had promised exorbitant sums for the frustration of
the Inquisition, and had misappropriated to his own use part of the
money intrusted to him. The pseudo-Christians thus found themselves
obliged, when pressed for payment by the papal nuncio, to declare
that they were not in a position to redeem the exaggerated promises
of Duarte de Paz. Moreover, this commerce between the nuncio and
Marranos was betrayed, and the latter had to exercise yet greater
caution. Hence interest in the Marranos gradually cooled down at the
pope's court. As the emperor put increasing pressure on Paul III to
authorize the Inquisition in Portugal, the pope at last sanctioned
the tribunal for the Portuguese dominions (May 23d, 1536). The pope,
friend of the Jews as he was, granted his sanction with a heavy heart,
forced thereto by pressure from the emperor. He added all sorts of
restrictions, that for the first three years the method of procedure
in current civil courts must be adhered to, _i.e._, open confrontment
with witnesses--at least as regarded that class of Marranos which
was not greatly esteemed--and that the confiscation of condemned
Marranos' goods should take place only after the expiration of ten
years. Personally, the pope recommended gentle measures in dealing
with pseudo-Christians. Don João's joy at the ultimate fulfillment of
his heart's desire was so great that he accepted the conditions. But
the concession was only a pretense; in reality, the same rigor was
employed against the Portuguese Marranos as against the Spanish. The
admonition published by the Inquisition, that it was everyone's duty,
under penalty of excommunication or a yet more severe punishment, to
denounce any Jewish observances or expressions of the new-Christians,
differed in no respect from that published by the first bloodthirsty
Spanish inquisitor, Torquemada. In November of the same year, after the
expiration of the thirty so-called days of grace, the bloody tribunal
began its revolting and abominable activity, once again outraging and
dishonoring human nature. The Portuguese Inquisition was conducted
with almost more cruelty than the Spanish, because, on the one hand,
its introduction had cost so much trouble, and the public mind was
thereby embittered; on the other, because the Portuguese Marranos were
more steadfast than their Spanish brethren, and finally, because the
common people supported the Inquisition, and took part against the
new-Christians. João III even made them wear a distinguishing mark to
separate them visibly from other Christians.
They did not, however, accept their defeat inactively, but rather
set to work with all imaginable energy to bring about a revocation
of the bull. The most subtle intrigues were again commenced at the
papal court. Duarte de Paz once more displayed his diplomatic skill.
The Marranos raised complaints of the cruel dealings of the judges,
who neglected to obey the pope's instructions. More especially they
complained that liberty to emigrate and dispose of their real estate
was still denied them.
In a memorial to the pope they ventured on almost threatening language:
"If your Holiness despises the prayers and tears of the Hebrew
race, or despite our hopes, refuses to redress our grievances,
as would beseem the vicar of Christ, then we protest before
God, and with tears and cries that shall be heard afar off
will we protest in the face of the universe, that our lives,
our honor, our children, who are our blood, our very salvation
made the butt of persecution, we will nevertheless try to hold
ourselves aloof from the Jewish faith; but if tyranny ceases
not, we will do what no one of us would else think of, _i. e._,
return to the religion of Moses, and abjure Christianity, which
we are made to accept by main force. We solemnly cry aloud that
we are victims, by the right which that fact gives us--a
right which your Holiness recognizes. Leaving our native land,
we will seek protection among less cruel peoples."
The nuncio who had returned from Portugal, knowing by long years of
experience the position of men and affairs, managed to convince the
pope that his sanction of the Inquisition was a mistake, and as Paul
III had only given way to momentary pressure, a change of sentiment
soon followed, and he repented the step he had taken. He went so far
as again to submit his bull to a committee which was to examine its
legality. To this commission the Marranos' friend, Cardinal Ghinucci,
was elected along with another of like mind, Jacobacio. They contrived
to prejudice the third member, the honest but narrow-minded Cardinal
Simoneta, against the Inquisition, so that he begged the pope to
right matters by the revocation of his former bull. Another nuncio
was sent to Portugal, with authority within certain limits to nullify
the proceedings of the Inquisition against the Marranos, to protect
the latter, and particularly to render easier their emigration from
Portugal. The pope sent a brief (dated August, 1537) after the nuncio,
empowering and, to some extent, encouraging all to give protection and
assistance to the accused Marranos--in fact, to do exactly what in
Portugal was held to be conniving at and participating in heresy. The
king must have been considerably puzzled. Here he was at length in
possession of a bull, a tribunal, a grand inquisitor and his colleagues
--the whole apparatus of a slaughter-house for the glory of God--and
he might just as well have had nothing at all.
An incident again turned the chances of the game in favor of the king
and the fanatics. One day (February, 1539) a placard was discovered
fastened on the door of the Lisbon Cathedral: "The Messiah has not yet
appeared--Jesus was not the Messiah, and Christianity is a lie." All
Portugal was indignant at such blasphemy, and a strict investigation
was set on foot to find out the offender. The king offered a reward
of 10,000 crusados (ducats). The nuncio also offered 5,000 crusados,
as he, with many others, was of opinion that this was a blow from
some enemy of the Marranos, designed to excite the king's fanaticism
to a higher degree, and to get the nuncio into trouble. To turn aside
suspicion the new-Christians posted a notice on the same place--"I,
the author, am neither a Spaniard nor a Portuguese, but an Englishman,
and though you raise your reward to 20,000 crusados, you will not find
me out." After all, the writer turned out to be a Marrano, one Emanuel
da Costa. He confessed everything when cited before the Inquisition.
The civil court then took him in hand, and put him on the rack to
make him name his accomplices. Finally, after both hands had been cut
off, he was burnt to death. The Marranos foresaw evil consequences
for themselves, and took to flight. The king made the best of this
opportunity to enforce the rules of the Inquisition with increased
severity and bloodthirstiness, and to thwart the nuncio's efforts.
The maddest fanatics were at once elected inquisitors, to the great
anger of the pope and his nuncio. João Soares, whom the pope himself
once described as "not a learned, but a most daring and ambitious,
monk, with opinions and ideas of the very worst kind, who takes pride
in his enmity to the apostolic see," was now given unbounded power
over the lives of the new-Christians, and his colleague was Mallo, an
arch-foe of the new-Christians. For the Marranos the state of affairs
grew worse every day. On three points the pope showed immovable
firmness: the Infante Don Henrique must not remain grand inquisitor;
Marranos accused of heresy should have the witnesses' (that is, their
accusers') names announced to them; finally, after sentence is passed
they should be allowed recourse to the papal court of appeals. Indeed,
Paul III caused a new bull to be drawn up (October 12th, 1539)--a
supplement of that issued three years before--which throughout was of
a favorable tenor to new-Christians, and would completely have crippled
the Inquisition. But this likewise remained a dead letter. After this,
fires for the obstinate heretics were kindled more frequently than
ever, and more victims were sacrificed (from ten to forty a year)
without permitting them to appeal to the pope. The denounced and
suspected Marranos filled the prisons.
A contemporary poet, Samuel Usque, gives a dreadful picture of
the tortures of the Portuguese Inquisition, which he himself had
experienced in his youth:
"Its institution deprived the Jews of peace of mind, filled
their souls with pain and grief, and drew them forth from the
comforts of home into gloomy dungeons, where they dwelt amid
torment and sighs of anguish. It (the Inquisition) flings
the halter round their necks, and drags them to the flames;
through its decrees they must see their sons murdered, husbands
burnt to death, and brothers robbed of life; must see their
children made orphans, the number of widows increased, the rich
made poor, the mighty brought low, the nobly born transformed
into highway robbers, chaste, modest women housed in lewd,
ignominious dwellings, through the poverty and desertion in its
wake. It has burnt numbers to death, not one by one, but by
thirties, by fifties at a time. Not content with mere burning
and destroying, it leads Christians to boast of such deeds, to
rejoice when their eyes behold the members of my body (the sons
of Jacob) burning to death in the flames, kindled with fagots
dragged from afar on men's shoulders. Those baptized against
their will, steal about overpowered with fear of this savage
monster (the Inquisition); they turn their eyes on every side
lest it seize them. With ill-assured hearts they pass to and
fro, trembling like a leaf, terror strikes them suddenly, and
they stay their steps lest it take them captive. When they sit
down together to eat, every morsel is lifted to their mouths in
anguish. The hour that brings repose to all other beings only
increases their anxiety and exhaustion. At times of marriage
and the birth of children, joy and feasting are turned into
mourning and disquietude of soul. In fine, there is no moment
not paid for by a thousand deadly fears. For it suffices not
that they make themselves known as Christians by outward signs.
Fire rages in their hearts, their tortures are innumerable."
Is this an exaggerated description? Did the poet's imagination
transform petty sufferings into the pains of martyrdom? Every word of
it is corroborated by an assembly of cardinals, officially gathered to
investigate the proceedings of the Portuguese Inquisition against the
Marranos.
"When a pseudo-Christian is denounced--often by false
witnesses--the inquisitors drag him away to a dismal retreat
where he is allowed no sight of heaven or earth, and least
of all to speak with his friends, who might succor him. They
accuse him on obscure testimony, and inform him neither of the
time nor the place where he committed the offense for which he
is denounced. Later on he is allowed an advocate, who often,
instead of defending his cause, helps him on the road to the
stake. Let an unfortunate creature acknowledge himself a true
believing Christian, and firmly deny the transgressions laid
to his charge, they condemn him to the flames, and confiscate
his goods. Let him plead guilty to such and such a deed, though
unintentionally committed, they treat him in a similar manner
under the pretense that he obstinately denies his wicked
intentions. Let him freely and fully admit what he is accused
of, he is reduced to extremest necessity, and condemned to the
dungeon's never-lifting gloom. And this they call treating the
accused with mercy and compassion and Christian charity! Even
he who succeeds in clearly proving his innocence is condemned
to pay a fine, so that it may not be said that he was arrested
without cause. The accused who are held prisoners are racked by
every instrument of torture to admit the accusations against
them. Many die in prison, and those who are set free, with all
their relatives bear a brand of eternal infamy."
As the Inquisition grew more and more severe and bloodthirsty, the
Portuguese new-Christians clung with increasing tenacity to the last
anchor of hope left--to the pope and their other protectors. They
had found a new advocate and mediator, who gave promise of being more
honest and energetically active on their behalf. The battle between
the Portuguese court and the papal see blazed up afresh. It was war to
the death, not for those immediately concerned, but for the miserable
beings who, in spite of self-repression, could not become reconciled
to Christianity, yet were not courageous enough to suffer for Judaism
--who would give up neither convictions, wealth, nor position. To
influence the pope, or at least those about his person against the
Marranos, the Infante and grand inquisitor Henrique had a list of
the delinquencies of the new-Christians made out and sent to Rome
(February, 1542). The Marranos, also, to wrest the weapons from their
opponents' hands, in Rome and elsewhere, and for all times to refute
the lying reports and statements of the Portuguese court, drew up a
bulky memorial (1544), detailing their troubled lot, from the time of
King João II and Manoel, who forced them to accept Christianity, until
the most recent times, and verifying their statements by documentary
evidence--a monument of everlasting disgrace to that age.
Yet these reciprocal indictments led to no settlement. At length,
when they saw that nothing would stop the execrable activity of the
Inquisition now it had once been called into existence, the pope and
the Marranos felt how extremely important it was for them to secure at
least two concessions. First, free right of emigration from Portugal
for new-Christians; second, a general absolution (Perdaõ) for those
already denounced or imprisoned, provided they would promise to give up
their Jewish creed and remain good Christians in the future. But these
were the very points on which the king and the Dominicans would not
yield. As though in defiance of the pope, the king issued an ordinance
(July 15th, 1547), that for three years longer no new-Christian might
leave Portugal without express permission or payment of a large sum of
money.
Paul III felt himself crippled. He might shudder at the cruelties of
the Portuguese Inquisition--the vast sums which the Marranos spent on
him and his sycophants might be ever so much needed to aid in carrying
out his policy in Italy and in prosecuting war against the Protestants,
yet he dared not show too stern a determination to thwart the court at
Lisbon. He, too, was in the power of Catholic fanatics. To fight the
Protestant heretics and reinstate the papal dignity, he had authorized
the institution of the order of Jesuits (1540), who inscribed their
banner with the watchword of the church militant. He had agreed to
the proposition of the fanatical Pietro Caraffa for an Inquisition at
Rome (1542). Loyola and Caraffa now lorded it over Rome, and the pope
was only their tool. Moreover, the council of Trent was to be convened
to settle the standard of faith, whereby the Protestants were to be
humbled, and their influence crushed. Paul III needed ardent fanatical
helpers to keep the lukewarm up to the mark. Such men only Spain
and Portugal could furnish. In Portugal the most friendly reception
had been accorded the Jesuits. Thus the pope could offer only mild
opposition to the Portuguese court, and proffer requests where he
should have given orders.
At the council, Bishop Balthasar Limpo was a worthy representative of
the fanatical king of Portugal, and dared use language against the
pope which should have shown him clearly that he was no longer master
in his own house. The bishop vehemently asked Paul III to sanction the
Inquisition against relapsed new-Christians irrevocably, and censured
his sympathy with them. He justly remarked:
"As Christians, and under Christian names, they leave Portugal
by stealth, and take with them their children, whom they
themselves have carried to be baptized. As soon as they reach
Italy they give themselves out for Jews, live according to
Jewish ordinances, and circumcise their children. This takes
place under the eye of the pope and the papal see, within
the walls of Rome and Bologna, and it happens because his
Holiness has granted to heretics the privilege that in Ancona
no one may molest them on account of their belief. Under these
circumstances it is impossible for the king to grant them the
right of free departure from the land. Perhaps his Holiness
asks it in order that they may settle in his states as Jews,
and the papal see derive advantage in that way. Instead of
hindering the establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal, it
should have been his Holiness' duty to have introduced it long
since into his own dominions."
The pope could have given answer to such an harangue, had he possessed
a clear conscience, and in very deed and truth preached Christianity as
a religion of gentleness and humanity. But since he had need of blind
fanaticism to keep up obstinate warfare with Protestantism, and on
the outbreak of the war against the latter had issued the murderous
bull ("Of the cross"), wherein Catholics, in the name of the vicar of
Christ, were called upon to "smite the Protestants to death," he could
make no reply when Limpo spoke. He was caught in his own trap. Yet, he
tried to save one thing, the Marranos' free right of emigration from
Portugal; on this condition he would give way to the Portuguese court.
But new-Christians wishing to depart from the land would be required to
give security that they would not emigrate to infidel countries, such
as Turkey or Africa. To this also Bishop Limpo gave a convincing reply:
"Does it, then, make any difference whether these heretics
take refuge under infidel governments, or come to Italy? At
Ancona, Ferrara, or Venice, they are circumcised, and then
go on to Turkey. They have papal privileges, forsooth, so
that nobody dare ask them if peradventure they are Jews! They
wear no distinguishing marks, and can go undisguised and free
whithersoever they like, can observe their ceremonies, and
attend their synagogues. Oh, how many attend these who were
baptized in their youth in Portugal, or were condemned to
death, or burnt in effigy! Give them free right of emigration,
let them set foot in the land of the infidel, and they can
openly confess themselves as Jews. The king will never allow,
no theologian--do I say theologian?--no simple Christian
could advise such a thing. Instead of his Holiness' exerting
himself to insure the safety of the secret Jews, let him
increase the number of Inquisitions in his own states, and
punish not alone Lutheran heretics, but Jewish heretics also,
who seek refuge and protection in Italy."
Yet another circumstance compelled Paul III to show a yielding
disposition. Charles V, inspired thereto by his victory over the
Protestants (April, 1547), sought to set himself above the papacy,
and would have liked to see a new ritual established, agreeable to
Protestants as well as to Catholics. This was tantamount to declaring
war against the pope. The latter was, therefore, forced to break
with the emperor, and that he might not stand unsupported against so
powerful a foe, Portugal and the central Catholic states had to be won
over to his side. To conciliate Portugal he sent thither a special
commissary provided with bulls and briefs, wherein he partially
sanctioned the Inquisition, though requesting that it be used with
mildness. Above all, however, new-Christians accused of heresy and
so-called relapse were not to be sentenced, for the present, but to
be made answerable for their conduct in the future. Even then, for
the first ten years, the property of relapsed heretics was not to be
touched, but to descend to their heirs. He consented to the restriction
of Marrano emigration, so strenuously insisted upon by the Portuguese
court.
Prisons of the Inquisition at Lisbon, Evora, and other cities were
thrown open in obedience to the pope's general absolution for
new-Christians, and eighteen hundred set at liberty (July, 1548).
Soon after this all the Marranos were called together, and forced to
abjure their Judaizing tendencies. From that moment only were they
recognized as complete Christians, and liable to be punished in case
of heretical transgression. The pope, in a brief, desired the king to
see that the tribunals deal mercifully even with the heretics, since
they fulfilled Jewish observances only from habit. Thus, throughout his
life, Pope Paul III took the part of the Marranos. Nevertheless, they
fell victims to their tragic fate. It was cruel injustice to demand an
open confession of Catholicism from them, when they protested against
it with all their hearts, and then to punish them when detected in
the performance of Jewish rites or ceremonies. On the other hand, the
state could never allow a whole class of the population outwardly
belonging to the church to be left in a certain sense free to hold
the church in derision. Justice certainly demanded that the Marranos
should have liberty of choice either to emigrate or confess themselves
genuine members of the church. But, as the court acknowledged, their
loss meant ruin to the state, for the Marranos of Jewish descent formed
the most profitable class of the city population. Their capital and
far-reaching business transactions increased the revenue, caused a
general circulation of money, and made raw materials imported from
the Indian and African colonies available. Without them the wealth
of the whole country would be capital idly and unprofitably stored.
Marranos were also the only artisans, and on them depended industrial
prosperity. Plainly, the state could not afford to lose them, and,
therefore, the king tried to turn them into good Christians by the
terrors of the Inquisition, so as to keep a certain hold on the profit
and utility of their presence. He labored in vain. Every year fresh
victims perished at the stake; yet the survivors did not become more
faithful believers. The Portuguese court, unlike the Spanish, never
derived enjoyment from the Inquisition. Portuguese new-Christians,
in spite of their confession, were not yet true Christians, on whom
the penalty of heresy could legally, according to canonical laws, be
inflicted by the Inquisition. After Paul's death, (November, 1549),
Julius III was petitioned to give absolution to the Marranos. Even the
succeeding popes, who favored reaction and persecution, allowed the
Portuguese Inquisition to continue more as an accomplished fact than
as a legal institution. Half a century later, a pope (Clement VIII)
condemned the judicial murders of the Inquisition, and once more issued
a general amnesty for condemned Marranos.