THE INQUISITION.
JEWISH AND MOORISH INTELLECTUAL ADVANCE FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL
DECLINE--THIS DECLINE THE CAUSE OF THEIR DOWNFALL--THE SPANIARD
AGAIN RULER OVER SPAIN--THE INQUISITION ESTABLISHED--TO ESCAPE
IT JEWS BECOME "NEW CHRISTIANS"--CHRISTIANITY NO HELP TO THE
JEWS--THOMAS DE TORQUEMADA--THE TORTURES OF THE INQUISITION--A
PUBLIC BURNING.
Physical decline follows mental advance. The nation that is devoted
to learning is not the nation that worships a military life, or the
pursuits of warfare. When the Mohammedans started on the enterprise
of acquiring vast territorial possessions, there were few nations, if
any, that could stand before them; when they were bent upon making
intellectual acquisitions, there was no military body in Europe so
poor that could not overthrow them. The military and patriotic virtues
of the Arab-Moors had slowly passed away. Their original simplicity
had been replaced by the extravagance of Oriental luxury, and their
early devotedness to the Moslem faith had suffered much from their
philosophical and scientific researches.[38] Internecine wars among
themselves hastened their decline. Faster and faster their once
invincible power slipped from their hands. Faster and faster advanced
the Spanish hosts. Arab-Moor and Spanish Christian met at last on the
plains of "Las Navas," (1213) and the great defeat which the Moslem
army sustained here marked the beginning of the fatal hour. City after
city, province after province, they were forced to yield. At last, all
was lost, save the city of Granada, which stood alone to represent
the Mohammedan dominion in the peninsula. And, for a time, it seemed
as if that noble city, the city of the Alhambra, the pride of the
Moors, would not only represent the Mohammedan dominion, and stay the
victorious advance of the Spanish hosts, but also regain all that had
been lost.
[38] Coppee's "Conquest of Spain," Vol. 1, Chap. V, pp.
441-442.
But the ancient valor was aroused too late. Ferdinand, of Aragon, had
married Isabella, of Castile. Two of the most powerful crowns and
armies were united, and unitedly they marched against the city of
Granada.
Granada surrendered. On the second day of January, 1492, the last and
ill-fated king of the Moors, Boabdil (Abu Abdillah,) met Ferdinand and
his party at the entrance of the Alhambra, and presenting the keys of
the city, thus he spoke in a loud voice and in sad accents:
"We are thine, O powerful and exalted king; these are the keys of this
paradise. We deliver into thy hands this city and kingdom, for such
is the will of Allah: and we trust thou wilt use thy triumph with
generosity and clemency."
"We trust thy wilt use thy triumph with generosity and clemency." Did
Boabdil have a foreboding of the infamous use the victor would make
of his triumph? Did he really expect that his appeal for generosity
and clemency would be favorably answered? If so, poor Boabdil, vain is
thy hope, foolish thy trust. That hour in which the Christian _cross_
replaced the Mohammedan _crescent_ on the turret of the Alhambra,
that hour when Christianity ruled again, and alone, in the peninsula,
marked a climax in the history of cruelties and human sufferings. That
hour, though the brightest in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, was
most fatal for Spain, most pitiful to Europe, most unfortunate for
civilization, and most calamitous for the Jews.
* * * * *
During all these unfortunate years of struggle for supremacy between
the Mohammedan and Christian hosts the Jews were not forgotten. Sad
as was the lot of the Moors, that of the Jews were inexpressibly more
miserable. The Moors were conquered by soldiers, the Jews by monks. The
Moors fought against the military of Spain, the Jews were inhumanly
slaughtered by the "militia of Christ." The Moors suffered the pangs
of war, and the Jews writhed in agony under the tortures of the
Inquisition.
* * * * *
Inquisition! Who can utter the execrable word without a shudder! Who
can think of this blood-thirsty institution without heaving a sigh
of relief that it lasts no longer! What Jew can think of it with dry
eyes, without lifting his heart to God in thanksgiving that this
blood-reeking tribunal is no more!
Inquisition! Who knows its meaning better than the Jews? What people
brought greater sacrifice to its bloody altars than they? Who has
described it better than the Jew, _Samuel Usque_, the Jewish poet,
whose lyre was silenced, and whose life was tortured out of his body by
that very institution which he so eloquently and truthfully describes?
"From Rome," he says, "a beast most monstrous, most ferocious, and
most foul has come into our midst. Its very appearance strikes terror
into every soul. When it raises its piercing, hissing, seething voice
all Europe trembles. Its body is made of a composition of the hardest
of steel and the deadliest of poison. In strength, in capacity for
murder, in size and in speed it excels the fiercest of lions, the most
poisonous of serpents, the tallest of elephants, and the speediest of
eagles. Its very voice will kill quicker than the bite of the basilisk.
Fire issues from its eyes, its jaws breathe forth flames. It lives
from human bodies only. Wherever it comes, and though the sunshine in
its noontide brightness, the densest darkness will at once set in.
In its presence every blade of grass, every flower and blossom and
tree, all wither and perish. Wherever it passes its pestiferous stench
changes fertile valleys and luxurious fields and laughing meadows into
unproductive deserts and howling wastes. Its name is _The Inquisition_."
It was born in the early part of the thirteenth century. Fanaticism was
its mother; its father was St. Dominic, who also was the father of the
Dominican Order, and so the Inquisition and the Dominican friars were
natural brothers, and "par nobile fratrum," a noble pair of brothers
they were. Pope Innocent III. stood godfather to it. I fully sympathize
with all past and present humanitarians in their efforts to wean men
from the pernicious belief in the existence of Hell, but I can not
accept their claims that Hell never existed. Hell did exist, not 10,000
leagues beneath the earth, but on its very face. Hell existed wherever
the Inquisition lived. And Devils there were, too, and their names were
"Dominican Monks." This ferocious beast-child came into this world
with a mission: to detect, punish and suppress Heresy, Free Thought,
and every Religious belief save that of the Church of St. Peter. Under
Dominican nursing and training, it grew and prospered, and rapidly
acquired a relentless exercise of its mission. Its heart was killed,
its conscience stifled. It was never taught the meaning of the words
pity and mercy.
Scarcely was it full grown when it initiated its bloody career of 600
years of accursed life by a most cruel reign of terror in the southern
provinces of France, where the presence and strength of the heretical
_Albigenses_ and where the Moorish and Jewish civilization from across
the Pyrenees had made themselves felt. The reign of terror ceased with
the extermination of almost the entire population.
At last it found its way into Spain, and in that country it entered
upon a career so infamous that its deeds of ferocity, recorded upon
the annals of History in letters of blood and fire, are not eclipsed
by the combined cruelties of all mankind. Here lived and prospered
thousands and thousands of Jews. When a holy war is waged against the
infidel Moors shall the infidel Jews escape unscathed? When the Blessed
Virgin crowns their zeal to their faith by giving them victory after
victory over the Moors, will she not be wroth if the Jews escape? When
the Moors are put to the edge of the sword, shall the Jews not be
committed to the flames?
The cruelties of the Inquisition were not the first which were visited
upon the Jews. Their second series of suffering in Spain began on
the day when the Christian forces defeated the Moorish army upon the
battle-field. The tolerance the Moor could afford to offer to the
Jew, the Religion of Christ could not. In Aragon and Castile it was
not a rare sight to see the fanatical populace, stimulated by the no
less fanatical clergy, to make a fierce assault upon this unfortunate
people--guilty of no other crime than that of promoting the prosperity
of Spain and of adhering to their inherited belief,--breaking into
their houses, violating their most private sanctuaries, and consigning
them by the thousands to indiscriminate massacre, without regard to
sex or age. Hatred of the Jews was for many centuries a faithful index
of the piety of the Christians. Cruel laws were enacted against them.
They were prohibited from mingling freely with the Christians, from
following the trades and professions for which they were best suited
by virtue of their high intelligence and thrift. Their residence was
restricted within certain prescribed limits of the cities which they
inhabited. They were held up to continuous public scorn, by being
compelled to wear a peculiar dress, on which was sewed their badge of
shame. Even in their executions they were branded, for a long time they
were hanged between two dogs, and with the head downwards.
A choice was given them to escape these sufferings and degradations
by entering "the religion of love unto all men." Thousands upon
thousands of Jews availed themselves of this only alternative, and
became feigned converts, or "new Christians," as they were called. They
amply regretted the change later, but at present it seemed to them an
almost justifiable step. The preceding chapters have acquainted us
with the character of the Spanish Jews, with their high intellectual
attainments, with their lofty demeanor, with their high social and
political and industrial and commercial standing. Think of them now
asked to sacrifice all these advantages, because the iron-handed and
iron-hearted brute force of the priests so wanted it. Feel as they
must have felt, when they were asked to exchange their mansions of
elegance and refinement for the wretched hovels of the Ghetto; to lay
aside their garments of silk, and their ornaments of grace and beauty
and costliness, and don the gaberdine of disgrace; to drop the reins
of the world's commerce which they held in their hands, and, instead,
take a pack upon their back and wander from house to house, an object
of ridicule and shame, and jeers and maltreatment. Think as they must
have felt and thought and you will think less harshly of their feigned
change of faith.
For a time all seemed bright. The "converts" were especially honored.
They were appointed even to high ecclesiastical and municipal offices;
their sons and daughters married into noble, and even royal families.
The few drops of baptismal water did not, however, change the character
of the Jews. Their prosperity was as great as before, and, unlike the
credulous and superstitious Spaniards, they failed to see any reason
why they should lavish their worldly goods upon the Church. They
preferred to do their own "taking care of," and their own "praying for"
their soul. This was their crime. Their superior skill and industry,
and the superior riches which these qualities secured, and their
high standing in the community, aroused the priesthood's envy and
covetousness. Thus the charge arose that the converts had relapsed into
their old faith.
The charge was not unfounded. The allegiance to the Church was that of
compulsion, and it never was anything else, except a masked external
allegiance. The heart, soul, conscience, mind, continued Jewish, and as
fervently so as ever before. This "scandalous spectacle of apostates
returning to wallow in the ancient mire of Judaism," was the pretext by
means of which the Dominicans sounded the alarm. And the Inquisition
came to cure them of their back-sliding.
Castile, the kingdom of Isabella, had till then refused admission to
the Inquisition. At one time its introduction was recommended, and
the whole populace arose in rebellion. Isabella herself trembled at
the very mention of it. But in an evil hour _Thomas de Torquemada_,
"condemned to infamous immortality by the signal part which he
performed in the tragedy of the Inquisition," became her confessor.
That man--if "man" I may name him--that vilest blot upon the history
of religion, of Spain, of civilization, was the fiend incarnate. His
very name still represents the superlative of maniacal fanaticism. He
labored hard to infuse into the pure mind of the noble hearted Isabella
a fanaticism as fiendish as was his. And still she recoiled from the
thought of introducing the monstrous slaughtering institution in her
domains. Torquemada brought the weight of the entire church to bear
upon her conscience, and still she refused. The fiend was not yet
baffled. He influenced her husband, the crafty and greedy Ferdinand of
Aragon, to advocate his cause. The husband prevailed.
On the 2nd day of January, 1481, the Inquisition commenced operation
in the city of Seville, with Thomas de Torquemada as Inquisitor
General of Castile and Aragon. A few years later it found its way into
every prominent town of Spain, and confined itself everywhere almost
wholly to the Jews. The severity, and savage alacrity of it, may best
be learned from the appalling fact that during the eighteen years
of Torquemada's ministry an average of more than 6,000 convicted
persons suffered annually from this cruel tribunal by burning, or by
condemnation to life long slavery, or by endless torture, making an
average of nearly seventeen a day, and the entire number punished
during its existence in Spain, from 1481 to 1808, amounted to 340,000
persons.[39]
[39] There is a Roman Catholic periodical entitled _La
Bandera Catholica_ (The Catholic Banner) which is published
in Barcelona, Spain; and on July 29th, 1883, it published an
article which caused one almost to think he was living in the
sixteenth instead of the nineteenth century. The writer of
the article imagines the burning stake is a thing of the near
future. He says, "Thank God, at last we have turned toward the
times when heretical doctrines were persecuted as they should
be, and when those who propagated them were punished with
exemplary punishment.
The establishment of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition must
soon take place. Its reign will be more glorious and fruitful
in results than in the past, and the number of those who will
be called to suffer under it will exceed the number of the
past. Our Catholic heart overflows with faith and enthusiasm,
and the immense joy which we experience as we begin to reap
the fruit of our present campaign exceeds all imagination.
What a day of pleasure will that be for us when we see the
masons, spiritualists, free thinkers and anti-clericals writhe
in the flames, of the Inquisition!"
We also read in another article of the same Roman Catholic
paper that during the time of the existence of the
Inquisition, from 1481 to 1808 in Spain alone there were
35,534 men and women burnt alive, and, 93,533 condemned to
other punishments, because they differed in opinion from the
Romish Church.
All this to protect the interests of religion. All this for offenses
so trivial that our blood boils with indignation at the very thought
of the heinous cruelty. It was sufficient to burn a "convert," as a
relapsed heretic, upon the mere accusations of crimes such as these:
That he wore better clothes or cleaner linen on the Jewish Sabbath than
on other days of the week; that he had no fire in his house on the
Jewish Sabbath; that he ate the meat of animals slaughtered by Jews;
that he abstained from eating pork; that he gave his child a Hebrew
name--and yet he was prohibited by law, under severe penalties, from
giving a Christian name--that on the Day of Atonement he had asked
forgiveness; that he had laid his hands in blessing upon his child's
head, without the sign of the cross, and numerous others, equally as
harmless. Most of the charges did not even prove a relapse, their
observance being, for the most, either purely accidental or the result
of early habit, or, what was most frequently the case, pure invention.
No better chance existed for wreaking vengeance, on a Jew. A simple
accusation, even anonymously, sufficed. For the accused there was no
safety against malice; no facing the accuser, who perhaps, was his
bitterest enemy; no trial; no cross-examination; no justice. He was put
under arrest and conveyed to the secret chambers of the Inquisition,
where, cut off from the world, he remained, sometimes for months, in
complete ignorance of the nature of the charges preferred against him.
Once there, the famous words of Dante may be well applied to him:
"_Lasciate ogni speranze voich'entrate_." "All hope abandon, ye who
enter here."
At last he would be summoned before the Inquisitors and asked to
confess. And well for him if he plead guilty. It is true, he will be
convicted, but he has escaped the tortures which are well nigh beyond
the power of endurance, and which will soon force a confession, true
or not true, or which, even if endured, cannot save him, as he will
nevertheless be convicted on the strength of positions of the accuser.
I shall spare you a recital of the tortures, of the sufferings
endured in the deepest vaults of the Inquisition, where the cries of
the victims could fall on no ear save that of the tormentors. It is
difficult to realize that these iron-hearted and iron-handed henchmen,
who thus eagerly, passionately, with a thirst for blood that knew
no mercy, with zeal that never tired, devoted their whole life to
cruelties such as we encounter here, could have been human beings, much
less ministers of Christ. I shall spare you and spare myself a recital
of these sufferings. I shall not speak of the tortures by rack and
rope, and fire and water, how the victims' joints were dislocated, how
every bone in their body was broken, how the body was roasted over a
slow fire. I cannot speak of these tortures. I can only refer you to
"_The History of The Inquisition_," by Don Juan Antonio Llorento, whose
records are authentic, as he himself was Secretary to the Inquisition;
or to Mosheim's "_Ecclesiastical History_," or to Prescott's
"_Ferdinand and Isabella_," volume I, chapter VII. To endure all these
tortures, and live, was thought positive proof of Satanic life, and the
strongest ground for burning. Nearly all plead guilty to whatever they
were accused of, and to more, too, after a short experience with the
rack. And confession brought public burning.
This was the last scene in the bloody tragedy, so wrongly named "Auto
De Fe" ("Act of Faith"). It was a gala day for the town in which it
was enacted. The proudest grandees of the land acted as escorts to the
ecclesiastical henchmen. The royal party seldom missed this pompous
ceremony, and not infrequently heaped fagots on the blazing fire with
their own hands. A military escort led the unfortunate victims, clad in
coarse yellow garments called "_san benitos_" garnished with a scarlet
cross, and with hideous figures of devils and flames of fire. And a
horrible appearance they presented, emaciated, lacerated, crippled,
dazed by the light and fresh air which had been denied them for months.
The pyre is lighted. The flames shoot up. The victims writhe in agony.
Lo! a fierce wind arises. For a moment it blows the flames from the
bodies. One of the victims speaks. It is Antonio Joseph, the Jewish
celebrated author and classical dramatist of Portugal, where the
performance of his dramatic pieces draws tears even to this day. Thus
the venerable sage speaks:
"I own I belong to a faith which you yourselves acknowledge to be
of Divine origin. God loved this religion, and He, according to my
belief, is still attached to it, while you think He has ceased to
be so; and because your belief differs from mine, you condemn those
who are of the opinion that God continues to love what He formerly
loved. You demand that we should become Christians, and yet you are
far from being Christians yourselves. Be at least men, and act towards
us as reasonable as if you had no religion at all to guide you and
no revelation for your enlightenment." "_Osseitaro barbaro_" ("clip
his beard"), some of the spectators shout, and immediately one of
the executioners besmears his venerable beard, by means of a long
brush, with pitch and turpentine, and sets fire to it. One more cry,
"_Sh'ma, Yisrael, Adonay Elahenu, Adonay Echad_" ("Hear, O Israel,
the Eternal, Our God is One"), and the flames have done their work,
amidst the rapturous applause of the spectators, and amidst the pious
ejaculations: "Blessed be forever the goodness and mercy of the Holy
Inquisition. Blessed be the Holy Trinity, the sister of the Virgin
Mary." Not a tear among the spectators. Father, mother, husband,
wife, child, relatives, friends, all are eye-witnesses to this bloody
sacrifice, and yet from them not a sigh of regret, nor dare they be
absent, nor dare they abstain from applauding, that would fasten
suspicion upon them, and condemn them to a similar fate. A confiscation
of the convicted possessions ended the mournful tragedy.
Such was the clemency and generosity for which Boabdil, the last of
the Moorish kings, entreated. Praised be God, now and forever, who has
emancipated us from the clemency and generosity of the Church.
[Illustration]
ANTONIO JOSEPH DA SILVA.
Auf dem Platze St. Domingo,
Vor der grossen Klosterkirche,
Harrt gespannt die wueste Menge,
Auf die Scheiterhaufen blickend.
Aus den Fenstern lugen Frauen
In den hellsten Festgewaendern,
Und es blitzen die Juwelen,
Um den Gottestag zu ehren.
Gilt es doch Antonio heute,
De sie ihren Plautus heissen,
Gilt es doch dem fruehern Liebling
Letzte Ehre zu erweisen.
Der beschuldigt eines Rueckfalls
In den alten Vaterglauben
Ihn will nun das Volk verlaeugnen,
Ihn im Flammentode schauen.
Er, der sie mit seinem Spiele
Oft geruehret und ergoetzet,
Heute wollen die Gemeinen,
An ihm selber sich ergoetzen.
Horch! schon toent die duestre Glocke,
Welche grauenvoll verkuendet,
Dass die Stunde war gekommen
Fuer den unbeugsamen Suender.
Alles gafft jetzt nach der Strasse,
Welche zu dem Platze fuehret
Und mit Schaekern und mit Spaessen
Sucht man sich die Zeit zu kuerzen.
Schau! da kommen sie die Schwarzen,
Die den Koenig stolz umgeben,
Schau! da kommen auch die Frevler,
Welche heute man verbrennet.
Demuthsvoll ist ihre Haltung,
Und mit flehentlichen Mienen
Suchen sie wohl noch Erbarmen,
Ob sich nicht noch Mitleid finde?
Nur Antonio schreitet sicher
Und gefasst zur Richtestaette,
Ob er auch im Buesserkleide
Und sein Antlitz abgehaermet.
Nochmals wiederholt der Koenig
Zarte Worte an den Dichter,
Dass er noch in letzter Stunde
Seiner Seele Heil gewinne.
"Loes dich los von jenen Schaaren,
Die gekreuzigt den Erloeser,
Loes dich los von den Verstockten,
Deren Weg nur fuehrt zur Hoelle!"
"Wenn" entgegnet sanft Antonio,
"Wenn in Gottes Plan gelegen
Seines Sohnes Kreuzesleiden,
Um die Menschen zu erloesen.
Warum hasset ihr dann Jene,
Die den Gottesplan vollzogen?
Warum hasset ihr dann Jene,
Die gethan was Gott gewollet?"
Wohlgeneigt vernimmt der Koenig,
Wie der Dichter ihm erwidert,
Und es schien sein Herz zu ruehren,
Als er auf Antonio blickte.
"Deine Rede lass ich gelten
Und vergeben sei den Moerdern,
Doch, nun glaub' auch an den Meister,
Wolle dich uns zugesellen."
Aber unser Dichter wuerdigt
Nun den Koenig keiner Rede,
Da sich seine Seele ruestet,
Vor den Herrn der Welt zu treten.
Wuethend riss man von den Fingern
Ihm die Haut und dann die Naegel,
Still erduldet er die Qualen,
Laesst die Henker still gewaehren.
Eh' den Holzstoss er bestiegen,
Wendet er sich zu dem Volke,
Seinen Glauben zu verkuenden,
Zu lobsingen seinem Gotte.
"Ew'ger Hort, dein Thun ist grade;
Recht sind alle deine Wege,
Dir allein will ich vertrauen,
Meine Seele dir empfehlen,
Du, vollkommen, ohne Zweiten,
Warst noch eh' die Welt erstanden,
Und in alle Ewigkeiten
Wird regieren nur dein Name!
Hoert mein letztes Wort, ihr Tauben,
Hor' es, Israel, mein theures;
Unser Gott, er ist der Ew'ge,
Unser Gott ist ewig, einzig!"
Wie empor die Flammen zuengeln,
Wie empor sie knisternd flackern,
Abzuwehren mit dem Tuche,
Sucht Antonio die Flammen.
Da taucht einer jener Henker,
In das Pechfass einen Besen,
Kreist ihn um den Bart Antonios
Fuer die gluehend muth'ge Rede.
Wie der Schrei die Luft durchzittert!
Wie jetzt selbst das Volk erbebet!
Schauer malet jedes Antlitz,
Dem noch eigen eine Seele.
Wer sind jene beiden Frauen,
Die verzweiflungsvoll sich kruemmen
Ach, es ist Antonios Gattin!
Ach, es ist Antonios Mutter!
Die man teuflisch hat gezwungen,
Diesem Schauspiel beizuwohnen,
Ob vielleicht ihr Sinn sich aendre
Vor dem Zorngerichte Gottes?
Jetzt sieht man auch Maenner weinen,
Und beim Fortgeh'n sprach ein Alter:
"Wahrlich, der gleicht jenen Helden,
Die fuer ihren Glauben starben.
Ob man sie an's Kreuz geschlagen,
Oder ob man sie vergiftet,
Dieser Mann steht neben Jenen,
Die man feiert und verhimmelt."
Jener Bau der Glaubensrichter
Ist verschwunden von dem Boden
Lissabons und ein Theater
Hat die Staette sich erkoren.
Hoheitsvoll blickt auf Domingo
Dieser heitre Musentempel,
Der den Lorbeer ewig wahret
Allen, die gedient dem Schoenen!
[Illustration]