OF THE TRIAL OF THE FALSE NUNCIO OF PORTUGAL, AND OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS
DURING THE TIME OF CARDINAL TABERA, SIXTH INQUISITOR-GENERAL.
_Quarrels of the Inquisition with the Court of Rome._
Charles V. appointed Cardinal Don Juan Pardo de Tabera, Archbishop of
Toledo, to succeed Cardinal Manrique, in the office of
inquisitor-general; his bulls of institution were expedited in September
1539, and a month after he entered upon his office, so that the
_Supreme_ Council governed the Inquisition for the space of one year.
It was under the inquisitor Tabera, that the congregation of the holy
office was founded at Rome, on the 1st of April, 1543. It gave the title
and privilege of inquisitors-general of the faith, for all the Christian
world, to several cardinals; two of the number were Spaniards, Don Juan
Alvarez de Toledo, Bishop of Burgos, a son of the Duke of Alva, and Don
Thomas Badia, cardinal-priest of the title of St. Silvestre, and master
of the sacred palace. These two cardinals were of the order of St.
Dominic.
This new creation alarmed the Inquisition of Spain for its supremacy;
but the Pope formally declared that it was not his intention to alter
anything that had been established, and the institution of the
inquisitors-general would not interfere with the privileges of the other
inquisitors. Yet the general Inquisition attempted several times to give
laws to that of Spain, particularly in the prohibition of some writings
which had been proscribed at Rome. The inquisitors-general wrote to
those of Spain, to register the censure of the theologians, because they
were to be looked upon as the most learned of the Catholic church, and
because their opinion was supported by the confirmation of the supreme
head of the church, whom the cardinals asserted to be infallible when he
acted (as in this case) as sovereign pontiff. He approved and commanded
the decrees of the congregation of cardinals, to be received and
executed with submission.
These pretensions of the Court of Rome did not inspire the inquisitors
of Spain with any awe; they have always defended their privileges with
so much vigour, that they often refused to execute the apostolical
briefs, when they were contrary to the decisions they had made
conjointly with the _Supreme_ Council. We find examples of this
resistance under Urban VIII., in the condemnation of the works of the
Jesuit, John Baptist Poza, which had been pronounced at Rome; and under
Benedict XIV., when the inquisitor-general, Don Francis Perezdel Prado,
Bishop of Teruel, refused to enter upon the _prohibitory index_ the
works of Cardinal Noris, in opposition to the request, and even the
formal demand, of that great Pope.
Although the inquisitors of Spain pretended that their authority was
canonical and spiritual, and had been delegated to them by the sovereign
pontiff, who is infallible when he pronounces _ex cathedra_, yet they
always opposed this infallibility in fact, and refused to submit to his
decrees, when contrary to their particular system. The inquisitors would
have acted differently, if they had not been certain that by applying to
the king and interesting his policy, they would force the royal
authority to take a part in their quarrels, and oppose the measures of
the pontiff, who, if they had not possessed that powerful support, would
have treated them as rebels, and degraded them to the rank of simple
priests by depriving them of their employments.
_History of the Viceroys of Sicily and Catalonia._
In 1535, Charles V. had deprived the Inquisition of the right of
exercising the royal jurisdiction, and it was not restored to them till
1545; consequently, in 1543, they had not the privilege of trying their
officers, familiars, or other secular attendants of the holy office, for
matters not relating to religion. This royal decree was known to the
Captain-general of Catalonia, Don Pedro Cardona, when he commenced
proceedings against the gaoler, a familiar and a servant of the
grand-serjeant of the Inquisition of Barcelona, for carrying arms, which
was prohibited in his government.
The inquisitors of Barcelona had become insolent, from having always
prevailed in affairs of this nature, and they instituted proceedings
against Don Pedro Cardona, as a rebel against the holy office; without
respecting his high situations of captain-general, and military governor
of the province, or the rank and name of his illustrious family. Being
informed that the emperor was only nine leagues from Barcelona, they
denounced the act of his lieutenant to him, and represented, through
Cardinal Tabera, that if Cardona was not condemned to make a public
reparation, the people would lose all respect for the Inquisition, and
an incalculable injury be done to the Catholic religion throughout the
kingdom.
The emperor, blinded by fanaticism, not only favoured the inquisitors
against all justice, and in contempt of his own ordinance of 1535; but
he wrote to Cardona, that the interests of the faith required that he
should submit to receive the absolution _ad cautelam_. This order deeply
afflicted Don Pedro, but he resolved to obey his master, and demanded
absolution. The inquisitors, to render their triumph greater, celebrated
an _auto-da-fe_, in the cathedral of Barcelona, where Cardona was
compelled to attend, standing without a sword, and with a taper in his
hand, during the celebration of mass, and the ceremony of his
absolution.
Charles V. had also deprived the Inquisition of Sicily of the royal
jurisdiction, for the space of five years, and afterwards prolonged it
to ten; but the inquisitors represented, through Cardinal Tabera, that
the inconveniences arising from this measure were so great, that Don
Ferdinand Gonzaga, Prince de Malfeta, the viceroy and captain-general of
the island, was informed that the suspension was to be revoked at the
expiration of the tenth year, without a particular order. The Marquis de
Terranova had been viceroy and governor-general; he was constable and
admiral of Naples, a grandee of Spain of the first class, and related to
the emperor through the house of Aragon. Two familiars of the
Inquisition had been taken before the civil tribunal, by his orders, for
some crimes which they had committed. Philip of Austria, Prince of
Asturias, the eldest son of Charles V., then aged sixteen, governed the
Spanish dominions during the absence of his father; and as he was not
less superstitious, his conduct towards the Marquis de Terranova was the
same as that of the emperor to Don Pedro Cardona. I consider it
necessary to give the letter of the Prince to the Marquis de Terranova;
it was as follows:--
"I, the Prince, Honourable marquis, admiral and constable, our dear
counsellor: you know what happened when you commanded two familiars of
the holy office to be whipped (while you were governor of this kingdom,
and not well informed of the affair). So great a contempt for that holy
tribunal has been the result, that it has been impossible for it to
command anything with the success which it formerly obtained. On the
contrary, several persons of this kingdom have presumed to insult and
use violence towards the officers of the Inquisition, and to prevent and
disturb them in the exercise of their office, according to the
complaints and informations which we have received on this affair. The
reverend Cardinal of Toledo, inquisitor-general, and the members of the
council of the general Inquisition, have deliberated with his majesty,
and it has been found proper and convenient that you should do penance
for the fault you have committed; saying that it should be gentle and
moderate, in consideration of the services you have rendered his
majesty. In consequence, the inquisitor-general and the council, guided
by their esteem for your person, have commanded the inquisitor Gongora
to speak to you, and represent your fault, that you may accomplish the
penance imposed, which (according to the nature of the fact, and the
evil which has been the result) ought to have been much more severe, as
you will learn from what the inquisitors have been commanded to say to
you. As to the rest, this has only been decreed for the glory of God,
the honour of the holy office, and the good of your conscience. We
require and charge you, for the sake of the good example which you owe
to others, to accept and accomplish this penance, with the submission
which is due to the church, and without waiting to be compelled by means
of excommunication and ecclesiastical censures; the submission which we
ask of you will not affect your honour, but will be profitable to you in
freeing you from all inquietude and vexation; it is approved by his
majesty, will give us pleasure, and we undertake to treat you in all
that concerns you with the favour that we have used towards you, and
which we will show whenever there is an opportunity. Given at
Valladolid, 15th December, 1543. I, the Prince." This letter is marked
by several members of the council, and countersigned _Juan Garcia,
pro-secretary_.
The silence which is observed on the nature of the penance imposed on
the viceroy is remarkable; but whatever gentleness and moderation was
affected, it was the same as that of Don Pedro Cordona. The only
difference to be observed was, that it did not take place in the
cathedral, but in the church of the Dominican convent; it was also
thought necessary, by way of compensation, to prevent the Marquis from
kneeling, except during the elevation of the host, that he might be more
exposed to the sight of the people, and to condemn him to pay an hundred
ducats to the familiars whom he had punished.
_History of the False Nuncio of the Pope in Portugal._
The history of the quarrels of the Inquisition with the royal authority
affords another conflict of jurisdiction. I speak of the affair of the
famous Juan Perez de Saavedra mentioned in histories, romances, and
dramatic pieces, under the name of _the False Nuncio of Portugal_, and
who generally passes for the founder of the Inquisition in that kingdom.
The critic Feijoo has supposed that the history of this affair was
fabulous. The narration of Saavedra, which Feijoo quotes, contains
fables, but it also contains truths belonging to the history of the
Inquisition. It is necessary to enter into the details of this history:
I shall first relate the facts according to the narrative which Saavedra
wrote for the Cardinal Espinosa in 1567; I shall afterwards establish
the truth on some points which that impostor contrived to obscure.
Juan Perez de Saavedra was born at Cordova. His father was a captain in
a regiment of infantry, and a perpetual member of the municipality of
that city, from a privilege acquired by his family; his mother, Anne de
Guzman, was descended from a family as noble as that of her husband.
Saavedra, who was possessed of great talents and information, employed
himself for some time in forging apostolical bulls, royal ordinances,
regulations of councils and tribunals, letters of change, and the
signatures of a great number of persons: he imitated them so perfectly,
that he made use of them without exciting any doubts of their
authenticity, and passed for a knight commander of the military order of
St. Jago, and received the salary, which was three thousand ducats, for
the space of a year and a half. In a short time, by means of the royal
orders which he counterfeited, he acquired three hundred and sixty
thousand ducats, and the secret of this great fortune would never have
been revealed (as he expresses himself in his confession) _if he had not
clothed himself in scarlet_, that is, if he had not taken it into his
head to feign himself a cardinal, in order to exercise the functions of
a legate _a latere_.
He says, that being in the kingdom of Algarves, a short time after the
institution of the Jesuits had been confirmed by Paul III., a priest of
that society arrived in the country, furnished with an apostolical
brief, which authorized him to found a college of the order in the
kingdom of Portugal; that having heard him preach on St. Andrew's Day,
he was so pleased with him, that he invited him to dinner, and kept him
several days in his house. The jesuit, having discovered his talent
during this period, expressed a wish to have a _fac-simile_ of his
brief, containing an eulogy on the Society of Jesus. He performed this
task with so much success, that the brief might have been taken for the
original; and they at last agreed that, to complete the good which would
accrue to Portugal from the establishment of the Society of Jesus, it
would be proper to introduce the Inquisition on the same plan as that of
Spain. Saavedra then went to Tabilla, a town in the same province,
where, with the assistance of the jesuit, he made the apostolical bull
which was necessary for their purpose, and forged letters from Charles
V. and Prince Philip his son, to the King of Portugal, John III. This
bull was supposed to have been sent to Saavedra, as legate, to establish
the Inquisition in Portugal, if the king consented.
Saavedra afterwards passed the frontier, and went to Ayamonte, in the
kingdom of Seville. The Provincial and Franciscan monks of Andalusia had
lately arrived there from Rome. Saavedra thought he would try if the
bull would pass as authentic: he told the Provincial that some
individual going to Portugal had dropped a parchment on the road, which
he showed him, and begged to know if it was of importance, as, in that
case, he would lose no time in restoring it to the person who had
dropped it. The Provincial took the parchment for an original writing
and true bull; he made the contents known to Saavedra, and expatiated on
the advantages which Portugal would derive from it.
Saavedra went to Seville, and took into his service two confidants, one
of whom was to be his secretary, the other his major-domo; he bought
litters and silver-plate, and adopted the dress of a Roman cardinal; he
sent his confidants to Cordova and Grenada to hire servants, and
commanded them to go with his suite to Badajoz, where they gave out
that they were the familiars of a Cardinal from Rome, who would pass
through the city in his way to Portugal, to establish the Inquisition by
the order of the Pope; they also announced that he would soon arrive, as
he travelled post.
At the appointed time Saavedra appeared at Badajoz, where his servants
publicly kissed his hand as the Pope's Legate. He left Badajoz for
Seville, where he was received into the archiepiscopal palace of
Cardinal Loaisa, who resided at Madrid in the quality of apostolical
commissary-general of the holy crusade. He received the greatest marks
of respect and devotion from Don Juan Fernandez de Temino, the
vicar-general. He remained eighteen days in this city, and during that
time obtained, by false obligations, the sum of eleven hundred and
thirty ducats from the heirs of the Marquis de Tarifa. He afterwards
took the road to Llerena (where the Inquisition of Estremadura had been
established), after going to different towns in the province; he was
lodged in part of the buildings of the Inquisition, which was then
occupied by the Inquisitors Don Pedro Alvarez Becerra and Don Louis de
Cardenas, to whom he said that he meant to visit the Inquisition of
Llerena in his quality of legate; and, after having fulfilled that part
of his mission, he should proceed to Portugal, where he should establish
the holy office on the plan of that of Spain.
Saavedra then returned to Badajoz, from whence he sent his secretary to
Lisbon with his bulls and papers, that the court being informed of his
arrival, might prepare to receive him. The mission of this agent caused
great doubts and agitation at the court, where such a novelty was little
expected: nevertheless, the king sent a nobleman to the frontier to
receive the Cardinal Legate, who made his entry into Lisbon, where he
passed three months, and was treated with every mark of respect: he then
undertook a long journey into different parts of the kingdom, going over
the dioceses, and taking a detailed account of them; it would have been
difficult to discover the aim of his apostolical solicitude, if some
unforeseen circumstances had not put an end to his imposture.
The Inquisition of Spain discovered this intrigue through the address of
Cardinal Tabera, who shared the cares of government with the Prince of
Asturias, at the time when Charles V. was absent in France. In
consequence of the measures concerted between the cardinal and the
Marquis de Villaneuva de Barcarrota, the governor of Badajoz, Saavedra
was arrested at Nieva de Guadiana in the Portuguese territory, on the
23rd of January, 1541, where he was at table with the curate of the
village, who had entreated that he would do him the honour of visiting
his parish, as he had the others in the diocese. This request was only a
snare, in order to arrest the impostor with more safety.
Saavedra says that, when he was arrested, three treasures which he had
with him were seized; one of twenty thousand ducats, the produce of the
fines of the condemned, destined for the holy office; the second of a
hundred and fifty thousand ducats, which, he said, he intended to apply
to the use of the church, and other good works; the third of ninety
thousand ducats, which belonged to himself. Saavedra was taken to Madrid
by the order of the procurator-general of the kingdom, and there
imprisoned. The alcaldes of the court went to him, and received his
declaration, which was necessary to the trial. The tribunal of the
Inquisition had not then been established at Madrid, which was subject
to that of Toledo. The inquisitors pretended that this affair ought to
come before them, because it was to be presumed that the prisoner had
renounced the Catholic religion, from the fictions which he had invented
to procure money; as if Catholics did not commit greater crimes every
day!
As the inquisitor-general was the lieutenant of the prince, the holy
office was sure to prevail. Tabera, wishing to satisfy both parties,
decreed that the alcaldes should remain in possession of the person of
Saavedra, and proceed against him for his exactions, forgeries, and
other political crimes, and that the holy office should take cognizance
of the crimes against the faith which he had been guilty of, under the
title of a cardinal.
The inquisitor reflected that Saavedra was a man of great talent, and
that he therefore should be treated with moderation; besides that, he
had always conducted himself like a real judge, except that he only
condemned the accused to pay fines.
Saavedra declared that these reasons made the inquisitor-general wish to
be personally acquainted with him; that he caused him to be brought
before him, heard him with interest, and offered to protect him,
promising to give him for a judge any one that he named: that he then
expressed a wish to be judged by Doctor Arias, inquisitor at Llerena;
this was granted, and caused great murmurs against the cardinal and the
court at Madrid, where it was whispered that Tabera had appropriated the
ninety thousand ducats which had been taken from Saavedra: that Doctor
Arias condemned him to serve ten years in the king's galleys; that,
after a detention of two years, the alcaldes of Madrid pronounced his
definitive sentence, one of the principal parts of which was, that after
having fulfilled the inquisitorial sentence, he could not be set at
liberty, or quit the galleys without the permission of his majesty, on
pain of death; that he was sent to the galleys in 1544; that in 1554,
although the period of his punishment had expired, he could not obtain
his liberty: then, persuaded that his affair depended more on the
Inquisition than the alcaldes of the court, he endeavoured to interest
the Pope in his fate, representing that he had done several things
extremely useful to religion and the state, in the exercise of his false
legation; that Paul IV. sent him a brief, which was addressed to the
inquisitor-general Don Ferdinand Valdes, whom his holiness charged to
obtain Saavedra's liberty; that he received this brief when the king's
galleys were in the port of St. Mary; that he immediately forwarded it
to the bishop coadjutor of Seville, and he sent it to the
inquisitor-general, who was his archbishop. Valdes having communicated
the affair to Philip II., that prince gave orders that Saavedra should
be set at liberty, that he might immediately repair to court. Saavedra
arrived there in 1562, after having passed nineteen years in the
galleys. He was presented to the king, who desired to hear his history
from his own lips, and to have it in writing; while Saavedra related it
to the king, Antonio Perez wrote down the singular events of his life:
lastly, Saavedra himself wrote it in 1567, for the inquisitor-general,
Don Diego Espinosa.
The history of Saavedra has furnished the subject for a Spanish comedy,
entitled the "_False Nuncio of Portugal_," in which not only all the
unities of time, place, and action are wanting, but the rule which only
admits probable events is infringed; but this ought not to surprise in
poets, since the hero himself has taken the same liberty in the
narrative which he composed for the amusement of Cardinal Espinosa. It
is certain that he was imprisoned on the 25th of January, 1541, as he
states in his history. But this point, so well established, proves that
he imposed in other circumstances; for example, if what he relates of
the Jesuit in Algarves is true, it could not have happened until the
year 1540, because Paul III. only expedited his bull of approval for the
_Society of Jesus_, on the 27th of September, 1540; now the sermon
preached by the Jesuit on St. Andrew's day corresponds with the 30th of
November in the same year, that is, on the fifty-second day before his
imprisonment; this interval would not be sufficient for his journeys to
Ayamonte, Llerena, Seville, Badajoz, and in Portugal. Thus Saavedra did
not speak truth, either in stating the period of his appearing to the
world as a Cardinal, and the motives which induced him to enter into
the intrigue with the Jesuit; or when he said that he sustained his part
for three months at Lisbon, and during three months which he employed in
visiting different towns in the kingdom.
Besides, the number and names of the disciples of St. Ignatius were
known at that period; and it is certain that before the bull of
approbation was obtained, the founder of the order had appointed St.
Francis Xavier and Simon Rodriguez, a Portuguese, to preach in Portugal;
and that these monks left Rome on the 15th of March, 1540, with the
Portuguese ambassador; that on their arrival at Lisbon, John III. wished
to receive them into his palace; that they refused that honour, and
lodged in the hospital; that St. Francis Xavier embarked for the East
Indies, with the new governor, on the 8th of April, 1541, and that
Rodriguez remained in Portugal to preach, as he had already done, to the
great satisfaction of the inhabitants, who had a high opinion of his
virtues: these circumstances render it improbable that the Jesuit would
ask for a forged brief, and enter into an intrigue with a layman.
Saavedra says, that the court of Lisbon was disturbed at the news of the
arrival of a nuncio in Portugal. This would not be extraordinary, as
neither the Pope nor any other person had written to the court on the
subject, and as the Pope had appointed Don Henry, archbishop of Braga,
the king's brother, inquisitor-general in the preceding year. But if the
arrival of the legate caused so much surprise, it was natural that the
king should write to the Pope, whose answer would have arrived two
months afterwards, and Saavedra would have been detected before the end
of the third month, and thus there would have been no necessity for the
king of Spain to arrest him.
It is not more certain that Saavedra established the Inquisition in
Portugal. The expulsion of the Jews took place in 1492; many of them
retired to Portugal: among them were some that had been baptized, and
John II. consented to receive them into his states, if they would behave
like faithful Christians. King Manuel ordered them to quit the kingdom,
and to leave all their children under the age of fourteen, who were to
be made Christians; they offered to receive baptism, if the king would
promise not to establish the Inquisition for twenty years; the king
granted their request, and also that the names of the witnesses should
be communicated to them, if they were accused of heresy after that
period, besides the power of bequeathing their effects if they were
condemned. In 1507, Manuel confirmed these privileges, prolonging the
first twenty years, and rendering the others perpetual: in 1520, John
renewed the first concession for another twenty years.
Clement VII., being informed that the baptized Jews in Portugal did not
show much attachment to the Christian religion, and that the Protestant
and Lutheran heresies made great progress in the kingdom, appointed
Brother Diego de Silva inquisitor for that country. He attempted to
exercise his functions, but the new Christians claimed their rights,
which were to last for several years; a trial was the result of this
opposition. Clement VII. died, and his successor, Paul III., granted to
the New Christians a privilege which they could not obtain in Portugal;
that they might confide, to persons chosen by themselves, their defence
before the prince of the sense to be given to the dispositions of their
privileges, which had been interpreted to their prejudice. In the same
year, the Pope granted them a pardon for all that had passed.
The king afterwards represented that the converted Jews abused their
privileges, some returning to Judaism, and others adopting the errors of
the Protestants. This circumstance induced the Pontiff to publish
another bull on the 25th of March, 1536, which is considered as the
foundation of the Inquisition in Portugal. The Pope appointed as
inquisitors, the Bishops of Coimbra, Lamego, and Ceuta; and decreed at
the same time, that another bishop or priest of the king's nomination
should be associated with them. The Pope granted to each inquisitor the
power of proceeding against heretics and their adherents, in concert
with the diocesan in ordinary, or alone, if he refused to assist; they
were likewise obliged for the first three years, in the proceedings
against heretics, to conform to the manner of proceeding in cases of
theft or homicide, and after that period to the rules of common law; the
practice of confiscation was abolished, and the heirs of the condemned
could inherit as if he died intestate. Lastly, the Pope commanded that a
sufficient number of tribunals should be instituted, for the execution
of these measures[11]. The king appointed Don Diego de Silva, bishop of
Ceuta, first inquisitor-general.
Such was the origin of the Inquisition in Portugal, four years before
Saavedra arrived in that country. In 1539, the Pope appointed Don Henry,
archbishop of Braga, to succeed the first inquisitor-general. The third
grand inquisitor was Don George de Almeida, archbishop of Lisbon.
All that I have now stated is taken from authentic documents. I conclude
from them that Juan Perez de Saavedra forged his brief of cardinal _a
latere_, presented it in December, 1540, and succeeded in concealing his
forgery; that what he related of the Jesuit was not true, or happened
differently; that seeing the Inquisition established in a manner
contrary to his opinions, he insinuated that it would be better to take
that of Spain as a model, which was well known to the inquisitors of
Llerena, and that he would visit the different parts of the kingdom to
facilitate this design; that he travelled through part of the kingdom in
the month of December, and continued his journeys in January in the
following year, when he was arrested, before the court of Lisbon
received information of his imposture. I have no doubt that Saavedra
amassed great sums, but I am far from thinking that they were as
considerable as he affirmed them to be.
Cardinal Tabera, sixth inquisitor-general, died on the 1st of August,
1545: at his death the number of tribunals was the same as when he was
placed at the head of the Inquisition: he had re-established that of
Jaen, but the tribunal of Navarre was united with that of Calahorra.
The number of victims, calculated as it was for the time of Manrique,
affords, for the seven years of Cardinal Tabera's ministry, seven
thousand seven hundred and twenty individuals condemned and punished;
eight hundred and forty were burnt in person, four hundred and twenty in
effigy; the rest, in number five thousand, four hundred, and sixty, were
subjected to different penances. I firmly believe that the number was
much more considerable; but faithful to my system of impartiality, I
have stated the most moderate calculation.