The History and Romance of Crime
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY
[Illustration]
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
LONDON
[Illustration]
Spanish Prisons
THE INQUISITION AT HOME AND ABROAD
PRISONS PAST AND PRESENT
_by_
MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS
_Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain_
_Author of
"The Mysteries of Police and Crime
"Fifty Years of Public Service," etc._
_The Inquisitor-General and the Catholic Sovereigns_
The mandate of expulsion of the Jews from Spain was
issued by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. This edict no doubt
originated with Torquemada, who was very bitter against the
Jews. When he learned that a number of their leaders were
in conference with the King and Queen, and offering an immense
ransom, Torquemada rushed into the presence bearing
a crucifix on high and crying in stentorian tones that the
sovereigns were about to act the part of Judas Iscariot.
"Here He is!" he exclaimed. "Sell Him again, not for
thirty pieces of silver, but for thirty thousand!" and flinging
the crucifix on the table he ran out in a frenzy. This turned
the tables and the decree for expulsion was confirmed.
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
Spanish Prisons
THE INQUISITION AT HOME AND ABROAD
PRISONS PAST AND PRESENT
_by_
MAJOR ARTHUR GRIFFITHS _Late Inspector of Prisons in Great Britain_
_Author of "The Mysteries of Police and Crime
"Fifty Years of Public Service," etc._
[Illustration]
THE GROLIER SOCIETY
EDITION NATIONALE
Limited to one thousand registered and numbered sets.
NUMBER 307
INTRODUCTION
A considerable portion of this volume is devoted to the Spanish
Inquisition, which was, for three centuries, the most important force
in Spain. Thousands were condemned by its tribunals, and its prisons
and punishments make up a large part of the penal history of that
country. Much exaggeration has crept into the popular accounts, but the
simple truth must cause a shudder, when read to-day.
The institution was created to deal with heresy, that is, with a
departure from the accepted canons. The idea that there can be unity
in diversity was not understood. The spiritual and the temporal powers
were closely related, and bishop and king, pope and emperor, all
believed that uniformity was necessary. Hence, heresy was everywhere
treated as high treason not only to the Church but to the State
as well. The Spanish Inquisition was a state affair as well as an
ecclesiastical court.
We shall see that the jurisdiction of the Inquisition was not confined
to the suppression of heresy. Many crimes which to-day are purely
state concerns, were then punished by it, including bigamy, blasphemy,
perjury, unnatural crimes, and witchcraft. The Spanish Inquisition
deserves credit for discouraging persecution of the last named offence,
and thereby saved the lives of thousands, who, in any other state would
have been executed.
The adaptation to penal purposes of ancient buildings, to be found
throughout the length and breadth of Spain, was very common, as these
were immediately available although generally unsuitable. Chief among
them are the many monastic buildings vacated when the laws broke up
religious houses in Spain and which were mostly converted into prisons,
but little deserving the name. Some of these houses have been utilised
as gaols pure and simple; some have served two or more purposes as at
Huelva, where the convent-prison was also a barrack.
Spain has been slow in conforming to the movements towards prison
reform. She could not afford to spend money on new constructions
along modern lines, and the introduction of the cellular system is
only of recent date. The model prison of Madrid, which has replaced
the hideous Saladero, was only begun in 1887. But a few separate
prisons had already been created, such as those of Loja, Pontevedra,
Barcelona, Vittoria and Naval Carnero. These establishments are new to
Spain but their methods and aims are too well known to call for fresh
description. More interest attaches to the older forms that have so
long served as places of durance.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION 5
I. THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN 11
II. PERSECUTION OF JEWS AND MOORS 32
III. PRISONS AND PUNISHMENTS 63
IV. THE INQUISITION ABROAD 91
V. THE INQUISITION IN PORTUGAL AND INDIA 110
VI. EARLY PRISONS AND PRISONERS 123
VII. PRESIDIOS AT HOME AND ABROAD 150
VIII. LIFE IN CEUTA 182
IX. BRIGANDS AND BRIGANDAGE 212
X. A BRIGHT PAGE IN PRISON HISTORY 236
List of Illustrations
THE GRAND INQUISITOR AND THE CATHOLIC
SOVEREIGNS _Frontispiece_
THE ALHAMBRA PALACE, GRANADA _Page_ 52
THE QUESTION " 116
CASTEL DELL' OVO " 150
SPANISH PRISONS
CHAPTER I
THE INQUISITION IN SPAIN
Beginning and growth of religious persecution--Temporal power of the
Papacy--Pope Innocent III creates the first "Inquisitors"--Domingo de
Guzman founder of the Inquisition--Founder of the Dominican Order of
Friars--The "ancient" Inquisition--Penances inflicted--Persecution
of the Jews in Spain--Institution of the "modern" Inquisition under
Ferdinand and Isabella--Headquarters at Seville--Frequent _autos da
fé_--Thomas de Torquemada the first Inquisitor-General--The privileges
of the office--Torquemada's life and character--Sufferings of accused
persons.
The record of religious persecution furnishes some of the saddest
pages in the world's history. It began with the immediate successors
of Constantine the Great, the first Christian prince. They promulgated
severe edicts against heretics with such penalties as confiscation,
banishment and death against breaches of Catholic unity. In this
present tolerant age when every one may worship God after his own
fashion, it is difficult to realise how recent a growth is toleration.
For more than six centuries the flames of persecution burned fiercely
throughout Christendom, lighted by the strong arm of the law, and
soldiers were constantly engaged to extirpate dissent from the accepted
dogmas with fire and sword. The growth of the papacy and the assumption
of the temporal power exalted heresy into treason; independence of
thought was deemed opposition to authority and resistance to the
universal supremacy of the Church. The popes fighting in self-defence
stimulated the zeal of their followers unceasingly to stamp out heresy.
Alexander III in the 12th century solemnly declared that every secular
prince who spared heretics should be classed as a heretic himself and
involved in the one common curse.
When the temporal power of the popes was fully established and
acknowledged, the papacy claimed universal sovereignty over all
countries and peoples and was in a position to enforce it by systematic
procedure against its foes. Pope Innocent III, consumed with the
fervour of his intolerant faith, determined to crush heresy. His
first step was to appoint two "inquisitors" (the first use of the
name) and two learned and devout friars, who were really travelling
commissioners, were sent to perambulate Christendom to discover heresy.
They were commended to all bishops, who were strictly charged to
receive them with kindness, treat them with affection, and "help them
to turn heretics from the error of their way or else drive them out
of the country." The same assistance was expected from the rulers of
states who were to aid the inquisitors with equal kindness.
The mission began in the south of France and a crusade was undertaken
against the Albigensians and Waldensians, those early dissidents from
the Church of Rome, who drew down on themselves the unappeasable
animosity of the orthodox. The campaign against these original heretics
raged fiercely, but persecution slackened and might have died out
but for the appearance of one devoted zealot whose intense hatred of
heresy, backed by his uncompromising energy, revived the illiberal
spirit and organised fresh methods of attack. This was Domingo de
Guzman, a Spanish monk who accompanied Foulques, Bishop of Toulouse,
when he left his desolated diocese to take part in the fourth Lateran
Council, assembled at Rome in 1215. This Domingo, historically known as
St. Dominic, was the founder of the Dominican order of friars.
Though generally accepted as such by Church historians, it is
now argued that St. Dominic was not really the founder of the
Inquisition[1] and that although he spent the best years of his life
in combating heresy he took no more prominent part in persecution than
hundreds of others. His eulogistic biographer describes him as "a man
of earnest, resolute purpose, of deep and unalterable convictions, full
of burning zeal for the propagation of the faith, yet kindly in heart,
cheerful in temper and winning in manner.... He was as severe with
himself as with his fellows.... His endless scourgings, his tireless
vigils, his almost uninterrupted prayer, his superhuman fasts, are
probably only harmless exaggerations of the truth." The Dominicans
boasted that their founder exhaled "an odour of sanctity" and, when his
tomb was opened, a delicious scent issued forth, so penetrating that it
permeated the whole land, and so persistent that those who touched the
holy relics had their hands perfumed for years.
[1] Lea. History of the Inquisition. Vol. I. p. 299.
Whatever the personal character of Dominic and whether or no he
laboured to carry out the work himself, there can be no doubt that
his Order was closely identified with the Inquisition from the first.
Its members were appointed inquisitors, they served in the prisons as
confessors, they assisted the tribunals as "qualificators," or persons
appointed to seek out proof of guilt, or estimate the extent or quality
of the heretical opinions charged against the accused; the great
ceremonials and _autos da fé_ were organised by them; they worked the
"censure" and prepared the "Index" of prohibited books. The Dominicans
were undoubtedly the most active agents in the Inquisition and they
owed their existence to him, even if he did not personally take part in
its proceedings.
The following quotation from Prescott's "History of Ferdinand and
Isabella" may well be inserted here. "Some Catholic writers would
fain excuse St. Dominic from the imputation of having founded
the Inquisition. It is true he died some years before the perfect
organisation of that tribunal; but as he established the principles
on which, and the monkish militia by whom it was administered, it is
doing him no injustice to regard him as its real author." The Sicilian
writer, Paramo, indeed, in his heavy quarto, traces it up to a much
more remote antiquity. According to him God was the first inquisitor
and his condemnation of Adam and Eve furnished the models of the
judicial forms observed in the trials of the Holy Office. The sentence
of Adam was the type of the Inquisitional "reconciliation," his
subsequent raiment of skins of animals was the type of the _sanbenito_,
and the expulsion from Paradise, the precedent for the confiscation of
the goods of heretics. This learned personage deduces a succession of
inquisitors through the patriarchs, Moses, Nebuchadnezzar, and King
David, down to John the Baptist, and he even includes our Saviour in
whose precepts and conduct he finds abundant authority for the tribunal.
The "Ancient Inquisition," as that first established in Spain is
generally called, had many of the features of the "modern" which dates
from the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and which will presently be
described at some length. Its proceedings were shrouded in the same
impenetrable secrecy, it used the same insidious modes of accusation,
supported them by similar tortures, and punished them with similar
penalties. A manual drawn up in the fourteenth century for the guidance
of judges of the Holy Office prescribes the familiar forms of artful
interrogation employed to catch the unwary, and sometimes innocent
victim. The ancient Inquisition worked on principles less repugnant to
justice than the better known, but equally cruel modern institution,
but was less extensive in its operations because in the earlier days
there were fewer heretics to persecute.
The ancient Inquisition was so unsparing in its actions that it almost
extirpated the Albigensian heresy. The punishments it inflicted were
even more severe than in the modern. Upon such as escaped the stake
and were "reconciled," as it was styled, a terrible "penance" was
imposed. One is cited by Llorente[2] as laid down in the ordinances of
St. Dominic. The penitent, it was commanded, should be stripped of his
clothes and beaten by a priest three Sundays in succession from the
gate of the city to the door of the church; he must not eat any kind of
meat during his whole life; must abstain from fish, oil and wine three
days in the week during life, except in case of sickness or excessive
labour; must wear a religious dress with a small cross embroidered on
each breast; must attend mass every day, if he has the means of doing
so, and vespers on Sundays and festivals; must recite the service for
the day and night and repeat the paternoster seven times in the day,
ten times in the evening, and twenty times at midnight. If he failed in
any of these requirements, he was to be burned as a "relapsed heretic."
[2] History of the Inquisition.
Chief among the causes that produced the new or "modern" Inquisition
was the envy and hatred of the Jews in Spain. Fresh material was
supplied by the unfortunate race of Israel, long established in the
country, and greatly prosperous. They had come in great numbers after
the Saracenic invasion, which indeed they are said to have facilitated,
and were accepted by some of the Moorish rulers on nearly equal terms,
and were treated with a tolerance seldom seen among Mahometans, though
occasional outbursts of fanaticism rendered their position not quite
secure. Under these generally favourable auspices the Jews developed
in numbers and importance. Their remarkable instinct for money making
and their unstinting diligence brought them great wealth. Their love of
letters and high intelligence gave them preëminence in the schools of
the Moorish cities of Cordova, Toledo and Granada, where they helped
to keep the flame of learning bright and shining through the darkest
ages. They became noted mathematicians, learned astronomers, devoted
labourers in the fields of practical and experimental science. Their
shrewdness in public affairs and their financial abilities commended
them to the service of the state, and many rose to the highest civic
dignities at both Christian and Moorish courts. Often, despite
prohibitory laws, they collected the revenues and supervised the
treasuries of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, while in private life
they had nearly unlimited control of commerce and owned most of the
capital in use.
After the Christian conquest, their success drew down upon them the
envy and hatred of their less flourishing fellow subjects, who resented
also that profuse ostentation of apparel and equipage to which the
Jewish character has always inclined. Their widespread practice of
usury was a still more fruitful cause for detestation. Often large sums
were loaned, for which exorbitant rates of interest were charged, owing
to the scarcity of specie and the great risk of loss inherent to the
business. As much as twenty, thirty-three, and even forty per cent.
per annum was exacted and paid. The general animosity was such that a
fanatical populace, smarting under a sense of wrong, and urged on by a
no less fanatical clergy broke out at times into violence, and fiercely
attacked the Jews in the principal cities. The _Juderías_, or Jewish
quarters, were sacked, the houses robbed of their valuable contents,
precious collections, jewels and furniture were scattered abroad, and
the wretched proprietors were massacred wholesale, irrespective of sex
and age. According to the historian, Mariana, fifty thousand Jews were
sacrificed to the popular fury in one year, 1391, alone.
This was the turning point in Spanish history. Fanaticism once aroused,
did not die until all Jews were driven out of Spain. It brought into
being another class also, the _Conversos_, or "New Christians," _i. e._
Jews who accepted Christian baptism, though generally without any
spiritual change. At heart and in habits they remained Jews.
The law was invoked, too, to aggravate their condition. Legislative
enactments of a cruel and oppressive kind were passed. Jews were
forbidden to mix freely with Christians, their residence restricted
to certain limited quarters, they were subject to irksome, sumptuary
regulations, debarred from all display in dress, forbidden to carry
valuable ornaments or wear expensive clothes, and they were held up to
public scorn by being compelled to appear in a distinctive, unbecoming
garb, the badge or emblem of their social inferiority. They were also
interdicted from following certain professions and callings. They might
not study or practise medicine, might not be apothecaries, nurses,
vintners, grocers or tavern keepers, were forbidden to act as stewards
to the nobility or as farmers or collectors of the public revenues,
although judging from repeated re-enactments, these laws were evidently
not strictly enforced, and often in some districts were not enforced at
all.
Fresh fuel was added to the fiery passions vented on the Jews by the
unceasing denunciation of their heresy and dangerous irreligion, and
public feeling was further inflamed by grossly exaggerated stories
of their hideous and unchristian malpractices. The curate of Los
Palacios has detailed some of these in his "Chronicle," and they
will serve, when quoted, to show what charges were brought against
the Jew in his time. "This accursed race (the Israelites)," he says,
speaking of the proceedings taken to bring about their conversion,
"were either unwilling to bring their children to be baptised, or if
they did, they washed away the stain on the way home. They dressed
their stews and other dishes with oil instead of lard, abstained from
pork, kept the passover, ate meat in Lent, and sent oil to replenish
the lamps of their synagogues, with many other abominable ceremonies
of their religion. They entertained no respect for monastic life, and
frequently profaned the sanctity of religious houses by the violation
or seduction of their inmates. They were an exceedingly politic and
ambitious people, engrossing the most lucrative municipal offices, and
preferring to gain their livelihood by traffic, in which they made
exorbitant gains, rather than by manual labour or mechanical arts. They
considered themselves in the hands of the Egyptians whom it was a merit
to deceive and rob. By their wicked contrivances they amassed great
wealth, and thus were able often to ally themselves by marriage with
noble Christian families."
The outcry against the Jews steadily increased in volume. The clergy
were the loudest in their protests against the alleged abominations,
and one Dominican priest, Alonso de Hojeda, prior of the monastery of
San Pablo in Seville, with another priest, Diego de Merlo, vigorously
denounced the "Jewish leprosy" so alarmingly on the increase and
besought the Catholic sovereigns to revive the Holy Office with
extended powers as the only effective means of healing it. The appeal
was strongly supported by the papal nuncio at the Court of Castile.
Ferdinand and Isabella, as devout Catholics, deplored the prevalence
of heresy, which they acknowledged to be rampant, and yet they
hesitated to surrender any of their independence. No other state in
Europe was so free from papal control or interference. Some of the
Conversos held high places about the court and they, of course, used
every effort to strengthen the reluctance of the queen, particularly.
On the other hand, the Dominican monk, Thomas de Torquemada, her
confessor in her youth, strove to instil the same spirit of unyielding
fanaticism that possessed himself, and earnestly entreated her to
devote herself to the "extirpation of heresy for the glory of God and
the glorification of the Catholic faith." She long resisted but yielded
at last to the unceasing importunities of the priests around her, and
consented to solicit a bull from the pope, Sixtus IV, to introduce
the Modern Inquisition into Castile. It was issued, under the date of
November 1st, 1478, and authorised the appointment of two or three
ecclesiastical inquisitors for the detection and suppression of heresy
throughout Spain.
One difference from the usual form establishing such tribunals was the
location of the power of appointment of inquisitors, which was vested
in the king and queen instead of in Provincials of the Dominican or
Franciscan Orders. Heretofore the appointment of inquisitors had been
considered a delegation of the authority of the Holy See, something
entirely independent of the secular power. But so jealous of outside
interference were the Spanish rulers and the Spanish people, that the
pope was forced to give way. Though he and his successors vainly strove
to recover the power thus granted, they were never entirely successful,
and the Spanish Inquisition remained to a large extent a state affair,
and this fact explains much which otherwise is inexplicable. For
example the confiscations passed into the royal instead of into the
papal treasury.
At first mild measures were to be tried. Cardinal Mendoza, Archbishop
of Seville, had drawn up a catechism instructing his clergy to spare no
pains in illuminating the benighted Israelites by a candid exposition
of the true principles of Christianity. Progress was slow, and after
two years the results were so meagre that it was thought necessary to
proceed to the nomination of inquisitors, and two Dominican monks, Fra
Miguel de Morillo, and Juan de San Martin, were appointed with full
powers, assisted by an assessor and a procurator fiscal.
The Jews played into the hands of their tormentors. Great numbers
had been terrified into apostasy by the unrelenting hostility of the
people. Their only escape from the furious attacks made upon them had
been conversion to Christianity, often quite feigned and unreal. The
proselytising priests, however, claimed to have done wonders; one, St.
Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican of Valencia, had by means of his eloquence
and the miraculous power vouchsafed him, "changed the hearts of no less
than thirty-five thousand of house of Judah." These numerous converts
were of course unlikely to be very tenacious in their profession of
the new faith, and not strangely laid themselves open to constant
suspicion. Many were denounced and charged with backsliding, many more
boldly reverted to Judaism, or secretly performed their old rites.
Now uncompromising war was to be waged against the backsliding "new
Christians" or Conversos.
The inquisitors installed themselves in Seville, and made the Dominican
convent of San Pablo their first headquarters, but this soon proved
quite insufficient in size and they were allowed to occupy the fortress
of the Triana, the great fortress of Seville, on the right bank of
the Guadalquivir, the immense size and gloomy dungeons of which were
especially suitable. This part of the city was much exposed to
inundations, and when, in 1626, it was threatened with destruction by
an unusually high flood, the seat of the tribunal was removed to the
palace of the Caballeros Tellos Taveros in the parish of San Marco. In
1639 it returned to the Triana which had been repaired, and remained
there till 1789, when further encroachments of the river caused it to
be finally transferred to the College of Las Beccas. The Triana is now
a low suburb, inhabited principally by gipsies and the lower classes.
It was at one time the potters' quarter where the famous _azulejo_
tiles were made, and its factories to-day produce the well known
majolica vases and plates with surface of metallic lustre.
One of the first steps of the Inquisition was to put a summary check to
the exodus of the Jews who had been fast deserting the country. All the
magnates of Castile, dukes, counts, hidalgos and persons in authority,
were commanded to arrest all fugitives, to sequestrate their property
and send them prisoners to Seville. Any who disobeyed or failed to
execute this order were to be excommunicated as abettors of heresy, to
be deposed from their dignities and deprived of their estates. Such
orders were strange to the ears of the turbulent nobles who had been
accustomed to pay little heed to pope or king. A new force had arisen
in the land.
On the Castle of the Triana,[3] already described, a tablet was
erected over the portals with an inscription, celebrating the
inauguration of the first "modern Inquisition" in Western Europe.
The concluding words were:--"God grant that for the protection and
augmentation of the faith it may abide unto the end of time. Arise oh
Lord, judge Thy cause! Catch yet the foxes (heretics)!"
[3] The counts of San Lucar were hereditary alcaldes of Triana, and in
return for surrendering the castle, they were granted the dignity of
Alguazil Mayor of the Inquisition. It was worth 150,000 maravedis a
year and the holder of the office provided a deputy. The maravedi, once
a gold coin of some value, latterly represented only 3/8 of a cent.
Just now, by an ill-advised move, the Conversos lost the sympathy of
all. Diego de Susan, one of the richest citizens of Seville, called
a meeting of the "New Christians" in the church of San Salvador. It
was attended by many high officials, and even ecclesiastics of Jewish
blood. Susan suggested that they collect a store of arms, and that at
the first arrest, they rise and slay the inquisitors. The plan was
adopted but was betrayed by a daughter of Susan, who had a Christian
lover. The plotters were arrested at once, and on February sixth, 1481,
six men and women were burned and others were severely punished.
The hunt was cunningly organised. An "Edict of Grace" was published
promising pardon to all backsliders if they would come voluntarily
and confess their sins. Many sought indulgence and were plied with
questions by the inquisitors to extract evidence against others. On
the information thus obtained the suspected were marked down, seized
and carried off to the prisons. Any adherence to Jewish customs gave
opportunity for denunciation, and the severe measures rapidly reduced
the numbers of the backsliding Jewish-Christians. In Seville alone,
according to Llorente, two hundred and ninety-eight persons were burnt
in less than a year, and seventy-nine were condemned to perpetual
imprisonment. Great sums ought to have passed into the treasury, then
and afterwards, from the confiscated property of rich people who
perished at the stake or were subjected to fine and forfeiture. But the
great engine of the Inquisition was excessively costly. The pageants
at the frequent _autos da fé_ were lavishly expensive, a great staff
of officials, experts, familiars and guards was maintained, and, in
addition, the outlay on the place of execution, the "_quemadero_" or
burning place, a great pavement on a raised platform adorned with fine
pillars and statues of the prophets, was very considerable, while the
yearly bill for fuel, for faggots and brush wood rose to a high figure.
Undoubtedly there was considerable embezzlement also.
There was evidently too much work for two men, so in February, 1482,
seven additional inquisitors were commissioned by the pope on the
nomination of the sovereigns, and some of these were exceedingly
zealous. There was, however, much confusion because of the lack
of a unifying authority. The sovereigns were determined that the
institution must be kept under the control of the state, and so a
council of administration usually called _la Suprema_ was added to
those already existing, and was charged with jurisdiction over all
measures concerning the faith. At the head was placed a new officer,
later called the inquisitor-general. The inquisitor-general was hardly
a subject. He had direct access to the sovereign and exercised absolute
and unlimited power over the whole population and was superior to
all human law. No rank, high or low escaped his jurisdiction. Royal
personages were not exempt from his control, for the Holy Office
invaded the prince's palace as well as the pauper's hovel. There was
no sanctity in the grave, for corpses of heretics were ruthlessly
disinterred, mutilated and burned.
The first inquisitor-general under the new organisation was Thomas
de Torquemada, who has won for himself dreadful immortality from the
signal part he played in the great tragedy of the Inquisition. He was
a Dominican monk, a native of old Castile, who had been confessor and
keeper of the Queen's conscience to Isabella in her early days and
constantly sought to instil his fiery spirit into her youthful mind.
"This man," says Prescott, "who concealed more pride under his monastic
weeds than might have furnished forth a convent of his order, was one
of that class with whom zeal passes for religion and who testify their
zeal by a fiery persecution of those whose creed differs from their
own; who compensate for their abstinence from sensual indulgence by
giving scope to those deadlier vices of the heart, pride, bigotry
and intolerance which are no less opposed to virtue and are far more
extensively mischievous to society." The cruelties which he perpetrated
grew out of a pitiless fanaticism, more cruel than the grave. He was
rigid and unbending and knew no compromise. Absolutely fearless,
he directed his terrible engine against the suspect no matter how
high-born or influential.
Torquemada was appointed in 1483 and was authorised from Rome to frame
a new constitution for the Holy Office. He had been empowered to create
permanent provincial tribunals under chief inquisitors which sat at
Toledo, Valladolid, Madrid and other important cities, and his first
act was to summon some of these to Seville to assist him in drawing
up rules for the governance of the great and terrible engine that
was to terrorise all Spain for centuries to come. The principles of
action, the methods of procedure, the steps taken to hunt up victims
and bring them under the jurisdiction of the court, secure conviction
and enforce penalties, are all set out at length in the record of the
times. "A bloody page of history," says the historian, "attests the
fact that fanaticism armed with power is the sorest evil that can
befall a nation." For generations the Spanish people, first the Jews,
then the Moriscos, lastly the whole native born community lay helpless
in the grip of this irresponsible despotism. Few, once accused,
escaped without censure of some sort. Llorente declares with his usual
exaggeration that out of a couple of thousand cases, hardly one ended
in acquittal and the saying became proverbial that people if not
actually roasted by the Inquisition were at least singed.
In order to appreciate fully the harshness of the Spanish Inquisition
and the cruelties perpetrated for several centuries, under the guise of
religion, we must trace the steps taken by the Holy Office, its guiding
principles and its methods of procedure.
The great aim at the outset was to hunt up heretics and encourage the
denunciation of presumed offenders. Good Catholics were commanded by
edicts published from the pulpits of all churches to give information
against every person they knew or suspected of being guilty of heresy,
and priests were ordered to withhold absolution from any one who
hesitated to speak, even when the suspected person was a near relation,
parent, child, husband or wife. All accusations whether signed or
anonymous were accepted, but the names of witnesses were also required.
On this sometimes meagre inculpation victims might be at once arrested,
though in some cases, censors must first pass upon the evidence. Often
not a whisper of trouble reached the accused until the blow actually
fell.
Kept thus in solitary imprisonment, cut off entirely from his friends
outside, denied the sympathy or support he might derive from their
visits or communications, he was left to brood despairingly, a prey
to agonised doubts, in ignorance even of the charges brought against
him. A few brief extracts from the depositions of witnesses might be
read to him, but the statements were so garbled that he could get no
clue to names or identities. If there were any facts favourable to him
in the testimony they were withheld from him. If he could, however,
name as mortal enemies some of the witnesses, their testimony was
much weakened. Facts of time, place and circumstance in the charges
preferred were withheld from him and he was so confused and embarrassed
that unless a man of acuteness and presence of mind he might become
involved in inextricable contradictions when he attempted to explain
himself.
On the other hand judges were guided and supported by the most minute
instructions. "It is the high and peculiar privilege of the tribunal
that its officers are not required to act with formality; they need
observe no strict forensic rules and therefore the omission of what
ordinary justice might exact does not invalidate its actions, provided
only that nothing essential to the proof be wanting." The first
essential of justice, as we understand it, was ignored. An accused
person arraigned for heresy was expected to incriminate himself, to
furnish all necessary particulars for conviction. Testimony could
be received from persons of any class or character. "They might be
excommunicate, infamous, actual accomplices, or previously convicted
of any crime." The evidence of Jews and infidels might be taken also,
even in a question of heretical doctrine. Wife, children, relatives,
servants, might depose against a heretic. "A brother may declare
against a brother and a son against a father." The witnesses met with
no mercy. If any one did not say all he could, or seemed reluctant to
speak, the examiners occasionally ruled that torture should be applied.