CREATION OF A GRAND INQUISITOR-GENERAL; OF A ROYAL COUNCIL OF THE
INQUISITION; OF SUBALTERN TRIBUNALS AND ORGANIC LAWS: ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE HOLY OFFICE IN ARAGON.
In 1483, Father Thomas de Torquemada was appointed inquisitor-general of
Aragon, and the immense powers of his office were confirmed in 1486, by
Innocent VIII. and by the two successors of that pontiff. It would have
been impossible to find a man more proper to fulfil the intentions of
Ferdinand in multiplying the number of confiscations than Torquemada. He
first created four inferior tribunals at Seville, Cordova, Jaen, and
Villa-Real (now Ciudad-Real); the latter was soon after transferred to
Toledo. He then permitted the Dominican fathers to exercise their
functions in the kingdom of Castile: these monks, who held their
commission from the holy see, did not submit to the authority of
Torquemada without some resistance; they declared that they were not his
delegates. Torquemada did not pronounce their deposition, as he feared
it would injure the execution of the enterprise which he was commencing,
but prepared to form laws which he found very necessary. He chose as
assistants and councillors, two Civilians, named John Gutierrez de
Chabes, and Tristan de Medina. At this time Ferdinand, perceiving how
important it was to the interest of the revenue to organize the
tribunal, created a royal council of the Inquisition, and appointed
Torquemada president, and as councillors, Don Alphonso Carillo, Bishop
of Mazara in Sicily, Sancho Velasquez de Cuellar and Ponce de Valencia,
both doctors of law. Torquemada commissioned his two assistants to
arrange the laws for the new council, and convoked a junta, which was
composed of the inquisitors of the four tribunals which he had
established, the two assistants, and the members of the royal council.
This assembly was held at Seville, and published the first laws of the
Spanish tribunal under the name of instructions in 1484. These
instructions were divided into twenty-eight articles.
The 1st article regulated the manner in which the establishment of the
Inquisition should be announced in the country where it was to be
introduced.
The 2nd article commanded that an edict should be published, accompanied
with censures against those who did not accuse themselves voluntarily
during the term of grace.
By the 3rd, a delay of thirty days was appointed for heretics to declare
themselves.
The 4th regulated that all voluntary confessions should be written in
the presence of the inquisitors and a recorder.
The 5th, that absolution should not be given secretly to any individual
voluntarily confessing, unless no person was acquainted with his crime.
The 6th ordained, that part of the penance of a _reconciled heretic_
should consist in being deprived of all honourable employments, and of
the use of gold, silver, pearls, silk, and fine wool.
By the 7th article, pecuniary penalties were imposed on all who made a
voluntary confession.
By the 8th, the person who accused himself after the term of grace could
not be exempted from the punishment of confiscation.
The 9th article decreed, that if persons under twenty years of age
accuse themselves after the term of grace, and it is proved that they
were drawn into error by their parents, a slight punishment shall be
inflicted.
The 10th obliged the inquisitors to declare, in their act of
reconciliation, the exact time when the offender fell into heresy, that
the portion of property to be confiscated might be ascertained.
The 11th article decreed, that if a heretic, detained in the prisons of
the holy office, demanded absolution, and appeared to feel true
repentance, that it might be granted to him, imposing, at the same time,
perpetual imprisonment.
By the 12th, if the inquisitors thought the repentance of the prisoner
was pretended, in the case indicated by the former article, they were
permitted to refuse the absolution, to declare him a false penitent, and
as such condemn him to be burnt.
By the 13th, if a man, absolved after his confession, should boast of
having concealed several crimes, or if information should be obtained
that he had committed more than he had confessed, he was to be arrested
and judged as a false penitent.
By the 14th article, the accused was to be condemned as impenitent, if
he persisted in his denials even after the publication of the testimony.
By the 15th, if a semi-proof existed against a person who denied his
crime, he was to be put to the torture; if he confessed his crime during
the torture, and afterwards confirmed his confession, he was punished as
convicted; if he retracted, he was tortured again, or condemned to an
extraordinary punishment.
The 16th article prohibited the communication of the entire deposition
of the witnesses to the accused.
The 17th article obliged the inquisitors to interrogate the witnesses
themselves, if it was not impossible.
The 18th article decrees, that one or two inquisitors should be present
when the prisoner was tortured, or appoint a commissioner if they were
occupied elsewhere, to receive his declarations.
By the 19th article, if the accused did not appear when summoned,
according to the prescribed form, he was condemned as a heretic.
The 20th article decrees, that if it is proved that any person died a
heretic, by his writings or conduct, that he shall be judged and
condemned as such, his body disinterred and burnt, and his property
confiscated.
By the 21st, the inquisitors were commanded to extend their jurisdiction
over the vassals of nobles; if they refused to permit it, they were to
be censured.
The 22nd decreed, that if a man, burnt as a heretic, left children under
age, a portion of their father's property should be granted to them
under the title of alms, and the inquisitors shall be obliged to confide
their education to proper persons.
By the 23rd, if a heretic, reconciled during the term of grace, without
having incurred the punishment of confiscation, possessed property
belonging to a condemned person, this property was not to be included in
the pardon.
The 24th obliged the reconciled to give his Christian slaves their
liberty, when his property was not confiscated, if the king granted the
pardon on that condition.
The 25th prohibited the inquisitors, and other persons attached to the
tribunal, from receiving presents, on pain of excommunication,
deprivation of their employments, restitution, and a penalty of twice
the value of the gifts received.
The 26th recommends to the officers of the Inquisition to live in peace
together.
The 27th commands that they shall carefully watch the conduct of their
inferior officers.
The 28th and last, commits to the prudence of the inquisitors the
discussion of all points not mentioned in the foregoing articles.
Ferdinand having convoked at Tarazona the Cortes of his kingdom of
Aragon, decreed that the Inquisition should be reformed in a
privy-council. After this resolution, Torquemada named Gaspard Juglar, a
dominican, and Peter Arbues d'Epila, as inquisitors for the
archbishopric of Saragossa. A royal ordinance commanded all the
authorities to aid and assist them in their office, and the magistrate
known by the name of Chief Justice of Aragon, took the oath with
several others. This circumstance did not prevent the resistance which
the Aragonese opposed to the tribunal; on the contrary it augmented, and
rose to such a height, that it might have been termed national.
The principal persons employed in the Court of Aragon were descended
from _New Christians_: among these were Louis Gonzalez, the royal
secretary for the affairs of the kingdom; Philip de Clemente,
prothonotary; Alphonso de la Caballeria, vice-chancellor; and Gabriel
Sanchez, grand treasurer; who were all descended from Jews condemned, in
their time, by the Inquisition. These men, and many others employed in
the court, had allied themselves to the principal grandees in the
kingdom, and used the influence which they derived from this
circumstance, to engage the representatives of the nation to appeal to
the Pope and the king, against the inquisitorial code. Commissioners
were sent to Rome and the Court of Spain, to demand the suspension of
the articles relating to confiscation, as contrary to the laws of the
kingdom of Aragon. They were persuaded that the Inquisition would not
maintain itself if this measure was abandoned. While the deputies of the
Cortes of Aragon were at Rome, and with the king, the inquisitors
condemned several _New Christians_ as Judaic heretics. These executions
increased the irritation of the Aragonese; and when the deputies wrote
from the Court of Spain, that they were not satisfied with the state of
affairs, they resolved to sacrifice one or two of the inquisitors, with
the hope that no one would dare to take the office, and that the king
would renounce his design. The project of assassination having been
approved by the conspirators, a voluntary contribution was raised among
all the Aragonese of the Jewish race; and it was proved by the trials of
Sancho de Paternoy and others, that Don Blasco d'Alagon received ten
thousand reals, which were destined to reward the assassins of the
Inquisitor Arbues, John de la Abadia, a noble of Aragon, but descended
from Jewish ancestors on the female side, took upon himself the
direction of the enterprise. The assassination was confided to John
d'Esperaindeo, to Vidal d'Uranso, his servant, to Matthew Ram, Tristan
de Leonis, Anthony Gran, and Bernard Leofante. They failed several times
in their attempts, as Peter Arbues, being informed of their design, took
the necessary precautions to secure his life.
It appears, from the examination of some of the murderers, that the
inquisitor wore a coat of mail under his vest, and a kind of helmet
covered with a cap. He was at last assassinated in the metropolitan
church, during the performance of the matins, on the 15th of November,
1485. Vidal d'Uranso wounded him so severely in the back of the neck,
that he died two days after. The next day the murder was known in the
town, but its effects were different from what had been expected, for
all the _Old Christians_, or those who were not of Jewish origin,
persuaded that the _New Christians_ had committed the crime, assembled
to pursue them and revenge the death of the inquisitor. The disturbance
was violent, and its consequences would have been terrible, if the young
archbishop, Don Alphonso of Aragon, had not shewn himself, and assured
the multitude that the criminal should be punished. Policy inspired
Ferdinand and Isabella with the idea of honouring the memory of Arbues
with a solemnity which contributed to make him pass for a saint, and
caused a particular worship to be addressed to him. This took place long
after, when Pope Alexander VII. had beatified him as a martyr, in 1664.
A magnificent monument was erected to his memory, by Ferdinand and
Isabella. While the sovereigns were occupied in honouring the remains of
Peter Arbues, the inquisitors of Saragossa were labouring without
ceasing to discover the authors and accomplices of his murder, and to
punish them as Judaic heretics and enemies to the holy office. It would
be difficult to enumerate the number of families plunged into misery
through their vengeance; two hundred victims were soon sacrificed.
Vidal d'Uranso, one of the assassins, revealed all he knew of the
conspiracy, which was the cause of the discovery of its authors. There
was scarcely a single family in the three first orders of nobility,
which was not disgraced by having at least one of its members in the
_auto-da-fe_, wearing the habit of a penitent.
Don James Diaz d'Aux Armendarix, lord of the town of Cadreita, a knight
of Navarre, and ancestor of the Dukes of Albuquerque, was condemned to a
public penance, for having concealed in his house, for one night,
several persons who fled from Saragossa. The same punishment was
inflicted on several other illustrious knights of the town of Tudela in
Navarre, for having received and concealed other fugitives. Don James de
Navarre (the son of Eleanor, Queen of Navarre, and Gaston de Foix) was
imprisoned in the dungeons of the Inquisition, and was subjected to a
public penance for having assisted several of the conspirators in their
flight. The inquisitors knew, when they had the audacity to imprison
him, that he was not beloved by Ferdinand, who always feared him,
although he was not legitimate.
Don Lope Ximenez de Urrea, first count of Aranda; Don Louis Gonzalez,
secretary to the king; Don Alphonso de la Caballeria, vice-chancellor of
the kingdom; and many other persons of equal rank, were condemned to the
same punishment. John de Esperaindeo and the other assassins of Arbues
were hung, after having their hands cut off. Their bodies were
quartered, and their limbs exposed in the highways. John de l'Abadia
killed himself in prison the day before the execution, but his corpse
was treated in the same manner as the others. The hands of Vidal
d'Uranso were not cut off until he had expired, because he had been
promised his pardon if he discovered the conspirators.
All the other provinces of Aragon made an equal resistance to the
introduction of the new Inquisition. The seditions at Teruel were only
quelled in 1485, by extreme severity. The town and bishopric of Lerida,
and other towns in Catalonia, obstinately resisted the establishment of
the reform, and were not reduced to obedience until 1487. Barcelona
refused to acknowledge Torquemada or any of his delegates, on account of
a privilege which it possessed of having an inquisitor with a special
title. The king applied to the Pope, who instituted Torquemada special
inquisitor of the town and bishopric of Barcelona, with the power of
appointing others to the office. The king was obliged to employ the same
method with the inhabitants of Majorca and those of Sardinia, who did
not receive the Inquisition until 1490 and 1492. It is an incontestable
fact in the history of the Spanish Inquisition, that it was introduced
entirely against the consent of the provinces, and only by the influence
of the Dominican monks.