ADDITIONAL ACTS TO THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF THE HOLY OFFICE;
CONSEQUENCES OF THEM, AND APPEALS TO ROME AGAINST THEM.
The inquisitor-general judged it necessary to augment the laws of the
holy office; and added eleven new articles to them; the substance of
them is as follows:--
1st. That each inferior tribunal should consist of two inquisitors as
civilians, an attorney, an alguazil, a recorder and other persons, if
necessary, who were to receive a fixed salary. The same article
prohibits the admission of the servants or creatures of the inquisitors
into the tribunal.
2nd. That if any of the persons employed should receive presents from
the accused or his family, he should be immediately deprived of his
office.
3rd. That the holy office should employ an able civilian at Rome, under
the title of agent, and that this expense, should be supported by the
money arising from the confiscations.
4th. That the contracts signed before the year 1479, by persons whose
property had since been seized, should be regarded as valid; but if it
was proved that any deception had been used in the transactions, that
the culprits should be punished by a hundred strokes of a whip, and
branded on the face with a red-hot iron.
5th. That the nobles who should receive fugitives in their estates,
should be compelled to deliver up to government the property committed
to their care; and if they claimed the fulfilments of contracts signed
by the accused for their profit, that the attorney should commence an
action to reclaim the property at belonging to the revenue.
6th. That the notaries of the Inquisition should keep an account of the
property of the condemned persons.
7th. That the stewards of the holy office could sell the confiscated
property, and receive the rents of the estates which might be let.
8th. That each steward should inspect the property belonging to his
tribunal.
9th. That a steward could not sequestrate the property of a condemned
person, without an order from the Inquisition; and even in that case,
that he should be accompanied by an alguazil, and place the effects and
an inventory of them in the hands of a third person.
10th. That the steward should pay the salaries of the inquisitors
quarterly, that they might not be obliged to receive presents.
11th. That in all circumstances not foreseen in the new regulations, the
inquisitors should conduct themselves with prudence, and apply to the
government in all difficult cases.
The nature of these articles proves that the number of confiscations
had been considerable. Ferdinand and Isabella often gave the property of
the condemned persons to their wives and children, granted them pensions
on the property, or a certain sum to be paid by the receiver-general.
These sums, and the care which people took to conceal their effects,
diminished the funds of the Inquisition; besides which, most of the _New
Christians_ were merchants or artisans, and it often happened that the
receivers who paid the royal gifts were unable to pay the salaries of
the inquisitors. Torquemada, in 1488, decreed that the royal gifts
should not be paid, until the salaries and other expenses of the
Inquisition had been defrayed, and wrote to request the approbation of
Ferdinand, who refused it. The inquisitor-general was then obliged to
permit the inquisitors to impose pecuniary penalties on reconciled
persons (which permission was afterwards revoked). As experience showed
that the revenue of the Inquisition was never sufficient, on account of
the great number of prisoners which it was obliged to maintain, and the
expenses incurred by the agent at Rome, Ferdinand and Isabella requested
the Pope to place at the disposal of the holy office, a prebendary in
each cathedral in their dominions; to which he consented in 1501. The
receivers finding themselves unable to defray the expenses of the
administration, demanded restitution of many persons whom they accused
of retaining estates belonging to the Inquisition. This conduct caused
so many complaints, that the council of the Inquisition was obliged to
prohibit the receivers from molesting the proprietors of estates which
had been sold before the year 1479. It is not surprising that the
receivers should employ such measures to augment the revenue, when the
inquisitors contributed to impoverish it themselves, by disposing of it
according to their caprices, and without the permission of the
sovereigns. This abuse rose to such a height, that Ferdinand and
Isabella complained to the Pope, who prohibited the inquisitors from
disposing of their revenues without an order from the king, on pain of
excommunication. The inquisitors were afterwards obliged to refund the
sums which they had seized.
In 1488 the inquisitor-general formed, with the assistance of the
supreme council, a new ordinance, which consisted of fifteen articles.
The first decreed that the regulations of 1484 should be followed in all
things, except in regard to the confiscations, which were to be
regulated by the rules of equity.
The 2nd enjoins the inquisitors to proceed in a uniform manner, on
account of the abuses produced by a contrary system.
The 3rd prohibits inquisitors from delaying to pass sentence, on the
pretence of waiting for the full proof of the crime.
The 4th imports, that as there are not in all the tribunals civilians of
sufficient ability to be consulted in the preparation of the definitive
sentences, the inquisitors shall send the writings of the trials to the
inquisitor-general, in order to be examined by the civilians of the
supreme council.
The 5th decrees that no person shall be allowed to hold any
communication with the prisoners, except the priests, who were obliged
to visit the prisons once in a fortnight.
The 6th commands that the testimony of witnesses shall be received in
the presence of as small a number of persons as possible, that secrecy
may not be violated.
The 7th, that the writings and papers belonging to the Inquisition shall
be kept in the place of residence of the inquisitors, and locked up in a
chest; the key of which shall be kept by the notary of the tribunal, who
must not give it up, on pain of losing his place.
The 8th article decrees, that if the inquisitors of a district arrest a
man already pursued by another tribunal, all the papers relating to his
trial shall be placed in the hands of the first.
The 9th article decrees, that if there are papers in the archives of a
tribunal which may be of use to another, the expenses incurred in
sending them shall be paid by it.
The 10th article declares, that as there are not prisons enough for all
who are condemned to perpetual imprisonment, they shall be permitted to
remain in their houses, but not to go out, on pain of being punished
with the utmost severity.
In the 11th, the inquisitors are recommended to execute rigorously all
those laws which prohibit the children and grandchildren of condemned
persons from exercising any honourable employment, and from wearing any
garment of silk, or fine wool, or any ornament of gold, silver, or
precious stones.
The 12th article decrees, that males cannot be admitted to
reconciliation and abjuration before the age of fourteen years, or
females before that of twelve; if they had abjured before that age, a
ratification was necessary.
The 13th prohibited the receivers from paying the royal gifts, until the
expenses of the Inquisition were defrayed.
The 14th declares, that the holy office should petition the sovereigns
to build a prison in each town where it was established, for the
reception of those who might be condemned to that punishment. It also
recommends that the cells should be arranged in such a manner, that the
prisoners might exercise their respective professions, and thus maintain
themselves.
The 15th and last article obliged the notaries, fiscals, and alguazils,
and other officers of the Inquisition, to perform their functions in
person.
The inquisitor-general found that these regulations were not sufficient
to prevent abuses; he therefore convoked a junta of inquisitors at
Toledo. The decrees of this assembly were published at Avila in 1498,
and were as follows:--
First, that each tribunal should be composed of two inquisitors, one a
civilian, the other a theologian. They were prohibited from inflicting
imprisonment or torture, or communicating the charges made by the
witnesses, without the consent of both.
Secondly, that the inquisitors should not allow their dependents to
carry any defensive arms, except where their office obliges them to do
so.
Thirdly, that no person should be imprisoned if his crime had not been
sufficiently proved; and that when the arrest had taken place, his
judgment should be immediately pronounced, without waiting for fresh
proofs.
Fourthly, that the Inquisition should acquit deceased persons, if
sufficient proof was not produced, and not delay the trial to wait for
fresh accusations, as it was injurious to the children, whose
establishment was prevented, from the uncertainty of the result of the
trial.
Fifthly, that the entire failure of the funds of the holy office should
not occasion the imposition of a greater number of pecuniary penalties.
Sixthly, that the inquisitors should not change imprisonment, or any
other corporeal punishment, to a pecuniary penalty, but for the
punishment of fasting, alms, pilgrimages, or other similar penances.
Seventhly, that the inquisitors should carefully examine into the
expediency of admitting to reconciliation those who confessed their
crimes after their arrest, since they might be considered as
contumacious, as the Inquisition had been established many years.
Eighthly, that the inquisitors should punish false witnesses publicly.
Ninthly, that two men related in any degree should not be employed in
the holy office, nor a master and his servant, even in case their
functions should be entirely distinct.
Tenthly, that each tribunal should have archives secured by three locks,
the keys of which should be placed in the hands of the two notaries and
the fiscal.
Eleventhly, that the notary should receive the testimony of witnesses
only in the presence of an inquisitor, and that the two priests
commissioned to prove the truth of the deposition should not belong to
the tribunal.
Twelfthly, that the inquisitor should establish the Inquisition in all
towns where it did not already exist.
Thirteenthly, that in all difficult cases the inquisitors should consult
the council.
Fourteenthly, that the women should have a prison separated from that of
the men.
Fifteenthly, that the officers of the tribunal should perform their
functions six hours in a day, and that they should attend the
inquisitors whenever they were required.
Sixteenthly, that after the inquisitors had received the oath of the
witnesses in presence of the fiscal, he should be obliged to retire.
Besides these ordinances, Torquemada established several particular
regulations for each individual belonging to the tribunal: all the
persons employed were obliged to take an oath that they would not reveal
anything they might see or hear: the inquisitor was not allowed to
remain alone with the prisoner; the gaoler could not allow any person to
speak with him, and was obliged to examine if any writings were
concealed in the food which was given him. These were the last
regulations framed by Torquemada, but Diego Deza, his successor,
published a fifth _instruction_ at Seville, in 1500.
Such were the laws of the holy office in Spain. This code caused the
emigration of more than a hundred thousand families useful to the state,
and the loss of many millions of francs which were spent at the court of
Rome, either for the bulls which it expedited, or by those who repaired
thither to solicit their absolution from the Popes. The holy see was far
from complaining of this practice, as it brought immense sums to the
treasury, and no person who presented himself with his money before the
apostolical penitentiary, failed of obtaining the absolution he
solicited, or an order for absolution elsewhere.
This conduct displeased the inquisitors: depending on the protection of
Ferdinand and Isabella, they expostulated with the Pope, who annulled
the absolutions already granted, thus deceiving those who had spent the
greatest part of their fortunes in endeavouring to obtain them. He then
promised new pardons on new conditions, contrary to the engagement he
had entered into with Ferdinand, to abolish every means of appeal to the
Court of Rome. Such was the constant practice of the holy see during
thirty years after the establishment of the Inquisition in Spain.