population consisted of Jews, many of whose ancestors had taken refuge in
that country, or had settled there for purposes of commerce, ages before
the birth of our Lord, and their number had been increased from time to
time, in consequence of imperial edicts which drove them from Italy,
or by the attractions of honor and wealth in Spain. They were the most
industrious and therefore the most wealthy people in those kingdoms,
and had possessed great influence. Their learned men occupied important
stations as physicians, agents of government, and even officers of
state; while the "New Christians," or Jews professedly converted to
Christianity, were intermarried with the highest families in Spain, and
all this had taken place in spite of the enmity of the clergy, popular
bigotry, and the adverse legislation of _cortes_ or parliaments. But the
wealth which procured Jews and New Christians so much worldly influence
became the occasion of great suffering. The "Old Christians," being less
industrious, and therefore less affluent, were frequently their debtors.
And although usury was checked by legislators, who dreaded its pressure
on themselves, and debts were often repudiated, the Jews maintained their
position of creditors; and, as the _Cartilla_ says, creditors are often
unreasonable persons, or, at least, are considered to be such. Christians
of pure blood, therefore, finding themselves involved in long reckonings,
became increasingly impatient, and, under a cloak of zeal for the
Catholic religion, were incessantly embroiling them with the magistracy
or stirring up the populace against them.
Llorente estimates the number of Jews who perished under the fury of
mobs, in the year 1391, at upward of one hundred thousand. To evade
persecution, multitudes submitted to be baptized. More than a million had
changed name at the end of the fourteenth century. After those tumults
controversial preachers, such as San Vicente Ferrer, declaimed for popery
against Judaism; and in the first ten years of the fifteenth century a
second multitude of forced converts threw themselves into the bosom of
the Romish Church, to the discouragement of their brethern and to their
own confusion at last. They were set under the keenest vigilance of the
inquisitors, without being able even to counterfeit any attachment to the
Church, whose most grievous yoke they had put on, but which in heart they
hated.
Now the Church gloried over the declension of Judaism. In presence of
Benedict XIII, antipope, a Spaniard, wandering in Spain, because in
Rome they would not own him, a formal disputation was carried on for
sixty-nine days between Jerome of Santa Fé and other converts--or, as
the Jews not improperly called them, apostates--on the one side, and a
company of rabbis on the other. Such a controversy, carried on even
in the presence of a half-pope, could only come to the prescribed
conclusion; and after seeing all persuasion and corruption exhausted to
bring over the Hebrews to his sect, but without much success, Benedict
closed the debate, pronounced the Jews vanquished, and gave them notice
of severer measures. The richer from interest, the poorer from bigotry,
and the priesthood from instinct, poured contempt even on proselytes,
whom they classified according to their supposed degrees of heterodoxy.
Some were called "converts," to note the newness of their Christianity;
others "confessed," to tell that they had confessed the falseness of
Judaism. Sometimes they were branded as "maranos," from the words _maran
atha_, which the priests, in their ignorance, took to mean "accursed."
The whole were spoken of as a generation of maranos, or, worst of all in
the imagination of a papist, "Jews." Goaded by the cowardly persecution,
the proselytes groaned after deliverance; a few even dared to renounce
the profession of a faith they never held, and many resumed the practice
of Jewish rites in private. This opened a new field to the zeal of the
inquisitors; but the labor of suppressing a revolt so widely spread, so
rapidly extending, and even infecting the Romish families with whom the
imperfect converts were united, was more than the inquisitors could
undertake without a more powerfully organized system of their own.
I believe that the fear of the Bible and the hatred of the Jews of Spain,
first imprinted in the page of history by the Council of Illiberis in the
beginning of the fourth century, was in course of time much aggravated by
the earnest love of the Spanish Jews for the original scriptures of the
Old Testament. It was not until the eleventh century that rabbinical
tradition gained much hold in the Jewish mind in Spain, but, from the
first, Christians had cursed Jews in sincere but blind zeal against
the descendants, as they thought, of those who crucified our Lord in
Jerusalem. Yet the Sephardim in Spain could have had no knowledge of the
Crucifixion until some weeks, at soonest, after it had taken place, and
perhaps never knew of the hostility of the Jews in Jerusalem against the
Saviour.
Until the dispersion of the Eastern colleges in the eleventh century,
no great rabbis came into Spain with pretension of authority to enforce
Talmudical traditions. When zealots of the sort did come, they found a
community of Hebrews far superior to the Jews of Palestine. No Assyrian
had bribed them to worship the gods of Nineveh. Their neighbors the
Carthaginians, so long as Carthage stood, had persisted in worshipping
the Baal and the Ashtaroth that recreant Israelites in Samaria and Jews
in Jerusalem worshipped for ages; but, while those gods had altars in
Sidon and in Carthage, we do not hear of any altars being raised to
them in "the captivity of Jerusalem, which was in Sepharad," or Spain
(Obadiah, 20); neither do we hear that those Jews betrayed any ambition
to make a hedge to protect God's law, instead of taking care to keep it.
But the first propagators of traditionism in Spain came from the East, on
the breaking up of the great schools of Babylonia by the Persians.
Ancient or Karaite synagogues remained in Spain until the expulsion of
Jews at the close of the fifteenth century, and yet much later in the
provinces that were not annexed to the United Kingdom of Castilla and
Leon under Ferdinand and Isabella. Some of the strongest features of
biblical learning imparted to the literature of the Reformation in its
earlier stages proceeded from the converted Jews of Spain.
About the year 1470, when the persecution of both Jews and Mahometans was
at its height--except in the kingdom of Granada--and when the testimony
quoted from the Old Testament against worship of images must have been
extremely galling to the worshippers, the priests thought it necessary
to enforce the prohibition of vernacular versions of the Bible. Such
versions, we know, were then circulated more freely in France, Spain,
and Portugal. In Spain, one of the chief translators was Rabbi Moses of
Toledo. To put a stop to Bible-reading, an appeal was made to Pope Paul
II, who prohibited the translation of the holy Scriptures "into the
languages of the nations." This authority was quoted in the Council of
Trent by Cardinal Pacheco, in justification of the practice of the Church
of Rome in his day; but another cardinal, Madrucci, arguing against him,
replied with cutting calmness that "Paul, of popes the second," or
any other pope, might be easily deceived in judging of the fitness or
unfitness of a law, but not so Paul the Apostle, who taught that God's
word should never depart from the mouth of the faithful.
During the persecutions of the fifteenth century, while Ferdinand and
Isabella made progress in reconquering the kingdom of Granada from the
Moors, and Mahometanism, like Judaism, was declining, the Moriscoes, a
middle class, resembling the New Christians, and not less dangerous to
Romanism, also challenged the powers of the Inquisition. No other country
in popedom was at that time more deeply imbued with disaffection of the
doctrines and worship of the Church of Rome. Then in 1477, one Brother
Philip de' Barberi, a Sicilian inquisitor, came to the court of Ferdinand
and Isabella, who were sovereigns of Sicily, to solicit the confirmation
of some privileges recently granted to the Holy Office in that island;
and, having observed the peril of the Church within the enlarged and
united dominions of "the Catholic kings" under whose rule nearly all
Spain was comprehended, advised the creation of one undivided court of
inquisition, like that of Sicily, as the only means of defence against
the maranos, Moriscoes, Jews, and Mussulmans.
The advice was quickly taken. First of all, the Dominicans, and after
them the dignitaries of the secular clergy, crowded round the throne to
pray for a reformation of the Inquisition after the Sicilian model. They
appealed to the greed of King Ferdinand by offering him the proceeds of
a confiscation, which might be rapidly effected, in pursuance of laws of
the Church to that intent provided. They appealed to the piety of Queen
Isabella, and were careful that tales of Jewish murders and Jewish
desecrations should be poured incessantly into the royal ear. Ferdinand
had no scruple. He sincerely prayed the Pope to sanction such a measure,
and, swiftly as couriers could bring it, came the desired bull. Isabella
could not blame the zeal of priests and monks; for she, too, was a
zealot. She could not gainsay the urgency of the nuncio. She could not
quench in her husband's bosom the thirst of gold. But she had brought
half the kingdom as her dower; and therefore some deference was due to
her conscience and judgment, and both in conscience and judgment she
desired gentler measures. During two or three years her orator and
confessor wrote books, and preachers were permitted to publish arguments,
and disputants to enter into conferences, for the conviction of the Jews.
At her majesty's request, Cardinal Mendoza issued a constitution in
Seville, in 1478, containing "the form that should be observed with a
Christian from the day of his birth, as well in the sacrament of baptism
as in all other sacraments which he ought to receive, and of what he
should be taught, and ought to do and believe as a faithful Christian,
every day, and at all times of his life, until the day of his death. And
he ordered this to be published in all the churches of the city, and put
in tables in each parish, as a settled constitution. He also published a
summary of what curates and clerks should teach their parishioners, and
what the parishioners should observe and show to their children." Thus
does Hernando del Pulgar, in his _Chronicle of the Catholic Sovereigns_,
describe what some too hastily call a catechism. It was merely a standard
of things to be believed and done, set forth by authority. The King and
Queen also, _not the Cardinal_, commanded "some friars, clerks, and other
religious persons to teach the people." But no true Jew would let himself
be taught that idolatry is not damnable; and even the less discouraging
issues of controversy with the vacillating or the ignorant were not
honestly reported.
The constitution of Cardinal Mendoza and the harangues of the friars were
ineffectual, as well they might be, for the Jews knew that the Christians
had a sacred book, said to be written by divine inspiration, as well as
the Law of Moses; and if that book was not put into their hands, they
could scarcely be expected to believe a religion whose chief written
authority was kept out of sight. That it was, indeed, kept out of sight
was undeniable; and the notorious Alfonso de Castro, chaplain of Philip
II, boasted in his book against heresies that there was "an edict of
the most illustrious and Catholic sovereigns of Spain, Ferdinand and
Isabella, in which, under the severest penalties, they forbade anyone to
translate the holy Scriptures into a vulgar language, or to have any such
version in his possession. For they were afraid lest any occasion
of error should be given to the people over whom God had made them
governors." The clergy maintained that conversion to the truth by
argument was impossible, and, at their instance, the bull was no longer
kept in reserve, but was published in 1480.
The Queen's trial of humanity was ended; but a question of policy
remained. The King and Queen remembered that they had an interest in
Spain as well as the Pope, but they scarcely knew how that interest
could be guarded if the inquisitors were allowed absolute power over the
persons and property of their subjects. To have proposed lay assessors
and open court would have provoked a quarrel with the Pope, then powerful
enough to raise Europe in arms against them; therefore they modestly
requested no more than that some priests nominated by the King should
be associated with some others nominated by the Pope; or that the King
should name all, and the Pope confirm his nominations. The "Catholic
sovereigns" calculated that nominees of Rome would, of course, prefer the
rights of the Church to those of the crown, but they fancied, or they
wished to fancy, that priests of their own choice would prefer their
interests to those of a stranger. This was an illusion, and therefore
Rome made little difficulty; and after due correspondence, and some
changes, the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition was constituted
thus:
Inquisitor-general--Friar Thomas de Torquemada, of whom Llorente says
that it was hardly possible that there could have been another man so
capable of fulfilling the intentions of King Ferdinand, by multiplying
confiscations; those of the court of Rome, by propagating their
jurisdictional and pecuniary maxims; and those of the projectors of the
Inquisition, by infusing terror into the people by public executions.
Two assessors--Juan Gutierrez de Chabes and Tristan de Medina,
jurisconsults.
Three King's counsellors--Don Alonso Carillo, a bishop-elect, with Sancho
Valasquez de Cuellar and Poncio de Valencia, doctors of civil law. In
matters relating to royal power they were to have a definite vote; but in
affairs of spiritual jurisdiction they could only be suffered to offer an
opinion, inasmuch as a spiritual power resided in the chief inquisitor
alone.
Under the jurisdiction of the supreme council were four subordinate
tribunals, and eventually several others were added, while some
inquisitors, hitherto holding special powers from the Pope, were stripped
of their independence, that the court of Rome might have one uniform
action throughout Spain. As the Holy Office advanced in labor and
experience, the supreme council was enlarged, and at last it consisted of
a president--inquisitor-general for the time being; six counsellors
with the title of apostolic; a fiscal; a secretary of the chamber;
two secretaries of the council; an alguazil-in-chief, or sheriff; one
receiver; two reporters; four apparitors; one solicitor; and as many
consulters as circumstances might require. Of course these were all
maintained in a style worthy of their office. The Inquisitor-general, or
president of the council, exerted an absolute power over every Spanish
subject, so that he almost ceased to be himself a subject. He alone
consulted with the King concerning the appointment of inquisitors to
preside over all the provincial tribunals. Each of those inferior
inquisitions was managed by three inquisitors, two secretaries, one
under-sheriff, one receiver, and a certain number of triers and
consulters. Their functions were considerably restricted, leaving
all capital cases and ultimate decisions in the hands of the Madrid
"Supreme."
But while Ferdinand, Isabella, Torquemada, and the nuncio were concerting
their plans and preparing death for heretics, what said Spain to it?
Neither was clergy nor laity content. After the bull of Sixtus IV
empowering the King to name inquisitors furnished with absolute
authority, and to remove them at pleasure, had arrived, but lay
unpublished in consequence of the Queen's repugnance, a provincial synod
sat at Seville, where the regal court then was, 1478. Had the clergy of
Castile desired the Inquisition, the synod would have said so; but so far
were they from approving of such a tribunal, to which every bishop would
be subject, but where no bishop would any longer have a voice, that they
passed over the affair of heresy in silence, not consenting to accept the
Inquisition, yet not presuming to remonstrate against it. Then would have
been the time for the clergy to add their power to that of the throne for
the suppression of false doctrine, believing, as they did believe, that
forcible suppression was not only lawful, but meritorious in the sight of
God; and so they would probably have done if inquisitor and bishop were
to have had coördinate jurisdiction, as in the first inquisition of
Toulouse, and in the early Italian inquisition; but they saw, with alarm,
that the episcopate was to be despoiled of its authority at a stroke.
A few months before the publication of the bull, but long after every
person in Spain knew the purport of its contents, and in the certainty
that it would be carried into execution, the Cortes of Toledo met;
but, instead of avoiding any act that would interfere with the new
jurisdiction then to be introduced, they made several provisions for
separating Jews and Christians by the enclosure of Jewries in the towns,
and for compelling the former to wear a peculiar garb, and abstain from
exercising the vocation of surgeon or physician or innkeeper or barber
or apothecary among Christians. The parliament plainly ignored the
Inquisition in making this enactment on their own authority.
And what said the magistracy and the people? Seville represented
the general state of feeling at the time. There, when a company of
inquisitors presented themselves, conducted into the city by men and
horses which had been impressed for the purpose by royal order, the civil
authorities refused to help them, notwithstanding the injunctions of the
bull, the obligations of canon law, and a mandate from the Crown. The new
inquisitors found themselves unable to act for want of help; meanwhile
the objects of their mission forsook the city, and found shelter in the
neighboring districts; and Ferdinand had to issue specific orders to
overpower the hostility of all the classes of the people and to compel
the magistrates to assist the new set of officers ecclesiastic. These
orders were most reluctantly obeyed.
Thus fortified, the inquisitors took up their abode in the Dominican
convent of St. Paul, and issued their first mandate January 2, 1481.
They said that they were aware of the flight of the New Christians, and
commanded the Marquis of Cadiz, the Count of Arcos, and all the dukes,
marquises, counts, gentlemen, rich men, and others of the kingdom of
Castile to arrest the fugitives and send them to Seville within a
fortnight, sequestrating their property. All who failed to do this were
excommunicated as abettors of heresy, deposed from their dignities, and
deprived of their estates; and their subjects were to be absolved from
homage and obedience. Crowds of fugitives were driven back into Seville,
bound like felons; the dungeons and apartments of the convent overflowed
with prisoners; and the King assigned the castle of Triana, on the
opposite bank of the Guadalquiver, to the "New and Holy Tribunal," to be
a place of safe custody. There the inquisitors, elate with triumph over
the reluctant magistrates and panic-stricken people, shortly afterward
erected a tablet with an inscription in memory of the first establishment
of the modern Inquisition in Western Europe. The concluding sentences
of the inscription were: "God grant that, for the protection and
augmentation of the faith, it may abide unto the end of time!--Arise, O
Lord, judge thy cause!--Catch ye the foxes!"
Their second edict was one of "grace." It summoned all who had
apostatized to present themselves before the inquisitors within a term
appointed, promising that all who did so, with true contrition and
purpose of amendment, should be exempted from confiscation of their
property--it was understood that they should be punished in some other
way--but threatening that, if they allowed that term to pass over without
repentance, they should be dealt with according to the utmost rigor of
the law. Many ran to the convent of St. Paul, hoping to merit some small
measure of indulgence. But the inquisitors would not absolve them until
they had disclosed the names, calling, residence, and given a description
of all others whom they had seen, heard, or understood to have
apostatized in like manner. After getting this information, they bound
the terrified informers to secrecy. This first object being accomplished,
they sent out a third monition, requiring all who knew any that had
apostatized into the Jewish heresy to inform against them within six
days, under the usual penalties. But they had already marked the very
men; and those suspected converts suddenly saw the apparitors inside
their houses, and were dragged away to the dungeons. New Christians who
had preserved any of the familiar usages of their forefathers, such as
putting on clean clothes on Saturday, who stripped the fat from beef or
mutton, who killed poultry with a sharp knife, covered the blood, and
muttered a few Hebrew words, who had eaten flesh in Lent, blessed their
children, laying hands on their heads, who observed any peculiarity of
diet or distinction of feast or fast, mourned for the dead after their
ancient manner, or whose friends had presumed to turn the face toward a
wall when in the agony of death, all such being vehemently suspected of
apostasy, were to be punished accordingly. Thirty-six elaborate articles
were furnished whereby everyone was instructed how to ensnare his
neighbor.
But what shall we say of a faith that could only hope to be kept alive
in the world by the extinction of charity, honor, pity, and humanity?
Llorente describes the immediate issue:
"Such opportune measures for multiplying victims could not but produce
the desired effect. Hence, on January 6, 1481, there were burned six
unhappy persons; sixteen on March 26th; many on April 21st; and by
November 4th, two hundred ninety-eight in all. Besides these, the
inquisitors condemned seventy-nine to perpetual imprisonment. And all
this in the city of Seville only; since, as regards the territories of
this archbishopric and of the bishopric of Cadiz, Juan de Mariana says
that, in the single year of 1481, two thousand Judaizers were burned in
person, and very many in effigy, of whom the number is not known, besides
seventeen thousand subjected to cruel penance. Among those burned were
many principal persons and rich inhabitants, whose property went into the
treasury.
"As so many persons were to be put to death by fire, the Governor of
Seville caused a permanent raised pavement, or platform of masonry, to
be constructed outside the city, which has lasted to our time [until
the French invasion, if not later], retaining its name of _Quemadero_
('Burning-place'); and at the four corners four large hollow statues of
limestone, within which they used to place the impenitent alive, that
they might die by slow heat. I leave my readers to consider whether this
punishment of an error of the understanding was consistent or not with
the doctrine of the Gospel?
"Fear caused an immense multitude of others of the same class of New
Christians to emigrate to France, Portugal, and even Africa. But many
others, whose effigies had been burned, appealed to Rome, complaining of
the injustice of those proceedings; in consequence of which appeals the
Pope wrote, on January 29, 1482, to Ferdinand and Isabella, saying that
there were innumerable complaints against the inquisitors, Fray Miguel
Morillo and Fray Juan de San Martin especially, because they had not
confined themselves to canon law, but declared many to be heretics that
were not. His holiness said that, but for the royal nomination, he would
have deprived them of their office; but that he revoked the power he had
given to the sovereign to nominate others, supposing that fit persons
would be found among those nominated by the general or the provincial of
the Dominicans, to whom the privilege belonged, and in prejudice of
whose privilege the former nomination by Ferdinand and Isabella had been
allowed."