THE INQUISITION CELEBRATES AT VALLADOLID, IN 1559, TWO AUTOS-DA-FE
AGAINST THE LUTHERANS, IN THE PRESENCE OF SOME MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL
FAMILY.
_First Auto-da-fe._
The trial of Juan Gil, Bishop of Tortosa, so much alarmed many
Lutherans, that they quitted the kingdom. Of this number were
Cassiodorus de Beina, Juan Perez de Pineda, Cyprian de Valera, and
Julian Hernandez; the three first published catechisms, translations of
the Bible, and other works written in the Castilian tongue, in foreign
countries[19]. Juan Perez published his at Venice in 1556, and they were
soon after introduced into Spain by Hernandez, who was arrested by the
Inquisition. The citations and inquiries made in consequence of the
trial of Hernandez, in order to discover the religious opinions of the
persons with whom he associated, caused an infinite number of trials to
be instituted during the fifteen years following, in all the tribunals
of Spain, particularly in those of Seville and Valladolid. In 1557 and
1558, the Inquisition arrested a great number of persons distinguished
by their birth, their offices, or their doctrine. Some indications found
in the writings of the trials, of a vast scheme tending to the
propagation of the opinions of Luther, persuaded Philip II. and the
inquisitor Valdes that it was necessary to treat all the convicted
persons with the utmost severity. Philip wrote to Rome on the subject on
the 4th January, 1559. The Pope addressed to Valdes a brief, in which he
authorized him to give over to secular justice all dogmatizing
Lutherans, even those who had not relapsed, and who, to avoid capital
punishment, had given equivocal signs of repentance. If history had
nothing to allege against Philip II. and the inquisitor Valdes, but the
solicitation for this bull, it would be sufficient to devote their names
to infamy.
On the 5th of January, 1559, a second bull revoked all the permissions
granted for reading prohibited books, and charged the inquisitor-general
to prosecute all who should read or keep them in their houses; and as
his Holiness was informed that a great number of writings which tended
to propagate the Lutheran doctrines were circulating in Spain, the bull
commanded the confessors to ask their penitents if they knew or had
heard of any persons possessing, reading, or dispersing them; that they
should also impose upon them the obligation of communicating such
circumstances to the holy office on pain of excommunication; and that
the confessors who omitted this duty should be punished as guilty, even
if persons they absolved were bishops, archbishops, patriarchs,
cardinals, _kings_, or _emperors_. It is easy to perceive how much these
measures must have increased the number of accusations; and to encourage
the informers, Philip renewed the edict of Ferdinand V., published at
Toro in 1505, by which they were entitled to the fourth part of the
confiscated property.
The multitude of accusations caused by these bulls, induced the
inquisitor-general to delegate his powers to Don Pedro de la Gasca,
Bishop of Palencia, who established himself at Valladolid, and to Don
Juan Gonzales de Munebrega, Bishop of Tarragona, who repaired to
Seville. Valdes at the same time executed the dispositions of another
bull, which granted to the holy office, on account of its increased
expenses in travelling and maintaining so great a number of prisoners,
the revenues of a canonship in each metropolitan church, cathedral, and
college, in the kingdom. Another brief granted them a subsidy of one
hundred thousand ducats of gold, to be imposed on the ecclesiastical
revenues of the kingdom, to pay the debts contracted from the same
cause. It is surprising that, after eighty years of confiscation, the
establishment should complain of distress. These bulls, however, were
not sufficient to procure money, owing to the resistance of several
chapters, particularly that of Majorca. In 1574 they still remained
unexecuted, when Gregory XIII. confirmed them, and the King of Spain was
obliged to force the rebel canons to submit.
The arrest and trial of so great a number of Spaniards necessarily
caused an _auto-da-fe_ to be celebrated in many tribunals; but as the
victims in those of Valladolid and Seville were persons distinguished,
some for their nobility, others for their doctrine, and all for the
purity of their lives, the ceremonies in these cities were more noted
than the others; and I do not hesitate in affirming that all that has
been written against the Spanish Inquisition in Germany and France was
only caused by the treatment of the Lutherans at Seville and Valladolid
(for, until then, scarcely anything had been written on the subject),
though the number of Lutherans who perished was small, when compared to
the enormous and almost incredible number of those who had suffered as
Jews or Mahometans.
The first solemn _auto-da-fe_ of Valladolid was celebrated on the 21st
of May, 1559, in the grand square, and in the presence of the Prince Don
Carlos, and the Princess Juana, of the civil authorities, and of a
considerable number of the grandees of Spain, besides an immense
multitude of people. The arrangement of the scaffolds and seats have
been already described in several works, and represented in prints.
Fourteen persons were relaxed, the bones and effigy of a woman burnt,
and sixteen individuals were admitted to reconciliation, with penances.
Some details of the principal persons may be found interesting.
Donna Eleonora de Vibero (the wife of Pedro Cazalla, who held an office
in the Treasury), daughter of Juan de Vibero, who had a similar
employment, and Constance Ortiz, was proprietress of a chapel in the
Benedictine convent of Valladolid. She had been interred without any
doubt of her orthodoxy; but she was accused of Lutheranism by the fiscal
of the Inquisition, though he said she had concealed her opinions, by
receiving the sacraments and the eucharist at her death. He supported
his accusation by the testimony of several witnesses who had been
tortured or threatened, the result of which was that the house of
Eleonora de Vibero had been used as a temple by the Lutherans. Her
memory and her posterity were condemned to infamy, her property
confiscated, her body disinterred and burnt with her effigy, and her
house razed to the ground, and prohibited from being rebuilt; a monument
with an inscription relating to this event was placed on the spot. I
have seen the column and the inscription; I have heard that it was
destroyed in 1809.
The other principal persons who perished in this _auto-da-fe_ were,
Doctor Augustin Cazalla, priest and canon of Salamanca, almoner and
preacher to the king and emperor; he was the son of Pedro Cazalla and
Eleonora de Vibero, and descended from the Jews both by his father and
mother. He was accused of professing the Lutheran heresy; of having
dogmatized in the Lutheran conventicle of Valladolid, and corresponded
with the heretics of Seville. Cazalla denied the facts imputed to him in
several declarations on oath, and in others which he presented when the
_publication of the proofs_ took place. The torture was decreed:
Cazalla, on the 4th of March, was conducted to the dungeon where it was
to be inflicted, but it did not take place, as the prisoner promised to
make a confession. He gave it in writing, and ratified it on the 16th,
acknowledging that he was a Lutheran, but denied having taught the
doctrine. He explained the motives which had prevented him from making
this declaration before; and promised to be a good catholic for the
future, if reconciliation was granted to him; but the inquisitors did
not think proper to spare him the capital punishment, as the witnesses
affirmed that he had dogmatized. Cazalla, however, continued to give
every possible proof of conversion until his execution: when he saw that
death was inevitable, he began to preach to his companions in
misfortune. Two days before his death, he related some particulars of
his life. He was born in 1510: at the age of seventeen he had
Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda for his confessor, in the college of St.
Gregory at Valladolid; he continued his studies at Alcala de Henares,
where he remained till 1536. In 1545 Charles V. made him his preacher;
in the following year he accompanied that prince to Germany, and stayed
there till 1552, preaching against the Lutherans; he returned in that
year to Spain, and retired to Salamanca, where he lived for three years,
going sometimes to Valladolid. He once attended, by the emperor's order,
at an assembly where Don Antonio Fonseca, president of the Royal Council
of Castile, presided, and at which the Licentiate Otalora, the Doctors
Ribera and Velasco, auditors of the council and chancery, and Brothers
Alphonso de Castro and Bartholomew Carranza assisted. The object of the
meeting was to decide on the course to be pursued on the occasion of
certain briefs which the Court of Rome had expedited against those who
approved of the decrees of the Council of Trent, which continued to
assemble in that city, though the Pope had commanded that it should be
transferred to Bologna. Cazalla declared that all the members of the
junta acknowledged that the Pope only acted from motives of personal
interest; and that Bartholomew Carranza particularly distinguished
himself by inveighing against the abuses of the Court of Rome. On the
20th of May, the day before his death, he received a visit from Brother
Antonio de la Carrera, a monk of St. Jerome, who was sent to him by the
inquisitors, to inform him that they were not satisfied with his
declarations, and to exhort him, for the good of his conscience, to
confess all that he knew of himself and others. Cazalla answered, that
he could not say more, without bearing false-witness. The monk replied,
that he had always denied that he had dogmatized, though the contrary
was proved by the witnesses. He said, that this crime had been unjustly
imputed to him; that he was guilty of not having undeceived those who
held bad doctrines; but that he had only spoken of his opinions to
persons who thought as he did: Brother Antonio then exhorted him to
prepare for death on the following day. This information was a
thunderbolt to Cazalla, who had expected to be admitted to a
reconciliation. He demanded if his punishment might not be commuted:
Carrera told him, that if he confessed what he had hitherto concealed,
he might hope for mercy. _Well then_, said Cazalla, _I must prepare to
die in the grace of God; for it is impossible that I should add anything
to what I have already said, unless I lie_. He then began to encourage
himself to suffer death; he confessed several times in the same night,
and the next day to Antonio de la Carrera. When he arrived at the place
of the _auto-da-fe_, he asked permission to preach to those who were to
suffer with him; he could not obtain it, but he addressed a few words to
them: as he was a penitent, he was strangled before, he was burnt. When
he was fastened to the stake, he confessed for the last time, and his
confessor was so affected by all that he had seen and heard during the
last twenty-four hours, that he afterwards wrote, "that he had no doubt
that Doctor Cazalla was in Heaven."
Francis de Vibero Cazalla, brother to Augustin, a priest, and Curate of
Hormigos in the diocese of Palencia, at first denied the charges,
confessed them when tortured, ratified his confession, and demanded to
be admitted to reconciliation. This was refused, as it was supposed that
he had only confessed from the fear of death. In fact, he ridiculed his
brother's exhortations on the scaffold, and expired in the flames
without showing any signs of repentance. He was degraded from the
priesthood, as well as his brother, before he ascended the scaffold.
Donna Beatrice de Cazalla, sister to the above-mentioned persons, and
Alphonso Perez, at first denied the charges, confessed during the
torture, demanded reconciliation, but were strangled and burnt.
Don Christobal de Ocampo, of Seville, a knight of the order of St. John,
and almoner to the Grand Prior of Castile and Leon, and Don Christobal
de Padilla, a knight and inhabitant of Zamora, were condemned to the
same punishment for Lutheranism.
The licentiate Antonio Herrezuelo, a lawyer of the city of Toro,
condemned as a Lutheran, died without any signs of repentance. Doctor
Cazalla addressed some words to him in particular; Antonio ridiculed his
discourse, although he was already fastened to the stake. One of the
archers, furious at so much courage, plunged his lance into the body of
Herrezuelo; he died without uttering a word.
Juan Garcia, a goldsmith of Valladolid, and the licentiate Perez de
Herrera, judge of the court against smugglers, in Logrono, suffered as
Lutherans. Gonzalez Baez, the Portuguese mentioned in the preceding
chapter, suffered as a Judaic heretic.
Donna Catherine de Ortega, widow of the commander Loaisa, and daughter
to Hernand Diaz, fiscal of the Royal Council of Castile, was condemned
as a Lutheran, and made her confession. She suffered the same fate with
Catherine Roman de Pedrosa, Isabella d'Estrada, and Jane Blazquiez, a
servant of the Marchioness d'Alcanizes. None of these persons had
dogmatized, none had relapsed, but they were condemned because they only
confessed during the torture.
Among the persons reconciled were distinguished,--Don Pedro Sarmiento de
Roxas, a knight of the order of St. Jago, commander of Quintana, and the
son of the first Marquis of Poza. He was condemned as a Lutheran,
deprived of his orders, clothed in the perpetual _San-benito_,
imprisoned for life, devoted to infamy, and his property confiscated.
Don Louis de Roxas, nephew of the above, was charged with the same
crime; he was exiled from Madrid, Valladolid, and Palencia, and
prohibited from leaving Spain; his property was confiscated, and he was
declared incapable of succeeding to the marquisate of Poza, which passed
to his youngest brother.
Donna Mencia de Figueroa, wife of Don Pedro Sarmiento de Roxas, and an
attendant of the Queen of Spain, was condemned, for Lutheranism, to wear
the _San-benito_, to imprisonment for life, and the confiscation of her
property.
Donna Anna Henriquez de Roxas, daughter of the Marquis d'Alcanizes, and
the wife of Don Juan Alphonso de Fonseca Mexia, was condemned as a
Lutheran. She appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ with the _San-benito_, and
was afterwards shut up in a monastery. She was twenty-four years of age,
was perfectly acquainted with the Latin tongue, and had read the works
of Calvin, and those of Constantine Ponce de la Fuente.
Donna Maria de Roxas, a nun of the convent of St. Catherine of
Valladolid, and daughter to the first Marquis de Poza. She was condemned
as a Lutheran, conducted to the _auto-da-fe_ with the _San-benito_, and
secluded for life in her convent. The Inquisition commanded that she
should be treated as the lowest in the community in the choir and
refectory, and deprived of the power of voting.
Don Juan de Ulloa Pereira, a knight commander of the order of St. John
of Jerusalem. He was son and brother to the Lords de la Mota, who were
soon after made Marquisses, and an inhabitant of Toro. He was condemned,
for Lutheranism, to wear the _San-benito_, to be imprisoned for life,
and to be deprived of his property. He was declared infamous, incapable
of obtaining dignities, stript of the habit and cross of his order, and
banished from Madrid, Valladolid, and Toro, but was prohibited from
quitting the kingdom. In 1565, Ulloa represented his situation to the
Pope, reminding him of his services in fighting against the Turks,
particularly when he took five ships of the pirate Caramani Arraez; he
added that the inquisitor-general had remitted the continuation of his
penance for more than a year, but that he wished to regain his rank as a
knight, as he was still capable of serving. The Pope granted a brief in
favour of Ulloa, rehabilitating him in his privileges as a knight, with
a particular clause, stating that what had passed could not prevent him
from attaining the superior dignities of his order, provided the
inquisitor-general and the grand master of Malta approved the decree.
Ulloa was then reinstated in his commandery.
Juan de Vibero Cazalla, a brother of Augustin, and Donna Juana Silva de
Ribera, his wife, were condemned, as Lutherans, to be deprived of their
liberty and their property, and to wear the _San-benito_.
Donna Constance de Vibero Cazalla, sister of Augustin, and widow of
Hernand Ortiz, was condemned to wear the _San-benito_, to perpetual
imprisonment, and the confiscation of her property. When Augustin saw
his sister pass, he turned to the princess governess, and said to her:
_Princess, I entreat your highness to have compassion on that
unfortunate woman, who will leave thirteen orphans_.
Eleonora de Cisneros, aged twenty-four, the wife of Antonio Herrezuelo,
and Donna Francisca Zuniga de Baeza, were condemned to the
_San-benito_, imprisonment, and confiscation.
Marina de Saavedra, the widow of Juan Cisneros de Soto, a distinguished
gentleman, Isabella Minguez, a servant of Donna Beatrice Cazalla, and
Antonio Minguez, the brother of Isabella, suffered the same punishment.
Anthony Wasor, an Englishman, servant to Don Louis de Roxas, was
condemned to wear the _San-benito_, to lose his property, and be
confined in a convent for one year.
Daniel de la Quadra lost his liberty and property, and took the
perpetual _San-benito_, as a Lutheran.
The sermon on the faith was preached by the celebrated Melchior Cano,
after all the assembly had witnessed a scandalous transaction. When the
court and all the other attendants had taken their places, Don Francis
Baca, Inquisitor of Valladolid, advanced towards the Prince of Asturias,
Don Carlos, and his aunt, the princess Juana, to demand and receive from
them an oath to maintain and defend the Inquisition, and to reveal to it
all that might have been said against the faith by any person within
their knowledge. It had been decreed at the establishment of the
Inquisition, that the magistrate who presided at an _auto-da-fe_ should
take a similar oath, but sovereigns cannot be considered as magistrates.
Don Carlos and his aunt took the oath, but subsequent events show how
much he was displeased at the boldness of this inquisitor: he was then
aged fourteen years.
_Second Auto-da-fe._
The second _Auto-da-fe_ of Valladolid took place on the 8th of October,
in the same year, 1559; it was still more splendid than the first, on
account of the presence of Philip II. The inquisitors had waited his
return from the Low Countries, to do him honour in this grand festival.
Thirteen persons, with a corpse and an effigy, were burnt, and sixteen
admitted to reconciliation. The king was accompanied by his son, his
sister, the Prince of Parma, three ambassadors from France, the
Archbishop of Seville, the Bishops of Palencia and Zamora, and other
bishops elect; there were also present, the constable and admiral, the
Dukes de Naxara and d'Arcos, the Marquis de Denia, afterwards Duke of
Lerma, the Marquis d'Astorga, and the Count de Urena, afterwards Duke of
Ossuna, the Count de Benavente, the Count de Buendia, the last
grand-master of the military order of Montesa, Don Louis Borgia, the
Grand Prior of Castile and Leon, a knight of the order of St. John of
Jerusalem, Don Antonio de Toledo, son and brother to the Dukes of Alva;
several other grandees of Spain, not named in the verbal-process of this
execution, and many persons of lower rank: the Countess de Ribadabia,
and other ladies of distinction, besides the councils, the tribunals,
and other authorities.
The sermon on the faith was preached by the Bishop of Cuenca: the
Bishops of Palencia and Zamora degraded the condemned priests; and the
inquisitor-general, the Archbishop of Seville, demanded and received
from the king the same oath which had been administered to Don Carlos.
The condemned persons were:--
Don Carlos de Seso, a noble of Verona, son to the Bishop of Placenza in
Italy, and one of the most noble families in the country; he was
forty-three years of age, passed for a learned man, who had rendered
great services to the emperor, and had held the office of Corregidor of
Toro. He married Donna Isabella de Castilla, daughter of Don Francis de
Castilla, who were descended from the king Don Pedro _the Cruel_. After
his marriage he settled at Villamediana, near Logrono. He there openly
preached heresy, and was the principal author of the progress of
Lutheranism at Valladolid, Palencia, Zamora, and the boroughs depending
on those cities. He was arrested at Logrono, and taken to the secret
prisons of Valladolid. He answered the requisition of the fiscal on the
28th of June, 1558. His sentence was communicated to him on the 7th of
October, 1559, and he was told to prepare to suffer death on the
following day. De Seso asked for ink and paper, and wrote his
confession, which was entirely Lutheran; he said that this doctrine, and
not that taught by the Roman Church, which had been corrupted for
several centuries, was the true faith of the gospel; that he would die
in that belief, and that he offered himself to God in memory of the
passion of Jesus Christ. It would be difficult to express the vigour and
energy of his writing, which filled two sheets of paper. De Seso was
exhorted during the night, and on the morning of the 8th, but without
success; he was gagged, that he might not have the power of preaching
his doctrine. When he was fastened to the stake, the gag was taken from
his mouth, and he was again exhorted to confess himself; he replied with
a loud voice, and great firmness: "If I had sufficient time, I would
convince you that you are lost, by not following my example. Hasten to
light the wood which is to consume me." The executioners complied, and
De Seso died impenitent.
Pedro de Cazalla, curate of the parish of Pedrosa; he was the brother of
Augustin Cazalla, and aged thirty-three. He was arrested on the 23rd of
April, 1558, and confessed that he was a Lutheran. He demanded to be
reconciled, but was sentenced to be _relaxed_ because he had preached
the heretical doctrine. On the 7th of October he was informed of his
sentence, but refused to confess; when he was fastened to the stake, he
asked for a confessor, and was then strangled, and afterwards burnt.
Dominic Sanchez, a priest of Villamediana, adopted the Lutheran heresy,
after having heard De Seso and read his books. He was condemned to be
burnt, and followed the example of Pedro de Cazalla.
Dominic de Roxas, a Dominican priest; he was a disciple of Bartholomew
Carranza. His father was the Marquis de Poza, who had two children
punished in the first _auto-da-fe_. Brother Dominic was forty years of
age. He was taken at Calahorra, disguised as a layman; he had taken the
habit to conceal himself from the agents of the Inquisition, until he
could escape to Flanders, after an interview which he wished to have
with Don Carlos de Seso. He made his first declaration before the Holy
Office, on the 13th of May, 1558; he was obliged to make several others,
because he retracted in one what he advanced in another; he was
condemned to the torture for these recantations. Brother Dominic
intreated that he might be spared the horrors of the question, as he
dreaded it more than death. This request was granted on condition that
he would promise to reveal what he had hitherto concealed; he consented,
and added several new declarations to the first; he afterwards demanded
to be reconciled. On the 7th of October, he was exhorted to prepare for
death; he then made some discoveries in favour of persons against whom
he had spoken in the preceding examinations; but he refused to confess,
and when he descended from the scaffold of the _auto-da-fe_, he turned
towards the king, and exclaimed, that he was going to die for the true
faith, which was that of Luther. Philip II. commanded that he should be
gagged. He was still in that situation when he was fastened to the
stake; but when they began to light the fire his courage failed, he
demanded a confessor, received absolution, and was strangled.
Juan Sanchez, a servant of Pedro de Cazalla, and Donna Catherine
Hortega; he was thirty-three years of age. The fear of being arrested by
the Inquisition induced him to go to Valladolid, in order to escape to
the Low Countries, under the forged name of Juan de Vibar. The
inquisitors were informed of his intention by his letters written at
Castrourdiales, addressed to Donna Catherine Hortega, while she was in
prison. The inquisitors gave information to the king, who commissioned
Don Francis de Castilla Alcalde, of the court, to arrest him. Sanchez
was taken at Turlingen, and transferred to Valladolid, where he was
condemned to _relaxation_, as a dogmatizing and impenitent Lutheran. He
was gagged until he was fastened to the stake. As he did not ask for a
confessor, the pile was lighted, and when the cords which held him were
burnt, he darted to the top of the scaffold, from whence he could see
that several of the condemned confessed, that they might avoid the
flames. The priests again exhorted him to confess, but seeing that De
Seso remained firm in his resolution, he returned and told them to add
more wood, for that he would die like Don Carlos de Seso. The archers
and executioners obeyed his injunctions, and he perished in the flames.
Donna Euphrosyne Rios, a nun of the order of Santa Clara of Valladolid,
was convicted of Lutheranism by twenty-two witnesses; she continued
impenitent until she was fastened to the stake, when she confessed, and
was strangled and burnt.
Donna Marina de Guevara, a nun of the convent of Belen at Valladolid, of
the order of Cistercians; she was related to the family of Poza. Marina
confessed the facts, but could not avoid her condemnation, though she
demanded to be reconciled. This was the more surprising, as the
inquisitor-general made great efforts to save her life; he was the
intimate friend of several of her relations, and being informed that the
inquisitors of Valladolid intended to condemn her, he authorized Don
Alphonso Tellez Giron, Lord of Montalban and cousin to Marina, and the
Duke of Ossuna, to visit the accused, and press her to confess what she
denied, and the witnesses affirmed; but Marina said that she could not
add anything to what she had already declared.
She was condemned to be _relaxed_, but the sentence was not immediately
published, as it was the custom to do so only on the day before the
_auto-da-fe_; and as the rules of 1541 allow the sentence of death to
be revoked if the criminals repent before they are given up to secular
justice, the inquisitor-general sent Don Alphonso Giron a second time to
his cousin, to exhort her to confess all, and avoid death. This conduct
of Valdes displeased the inquisitors of Valladolid, who spoke of it as a
singular and scandalous preference. Valdes applied to the Supreme
Council, which commanded that the visit should be made in the presence
of one or two inquisitors. This last attempt did not succeed better than
the first; Marina persisted in her declaration, and was burnt.
Donna Catherine de Reinoso, a nun in the same convent, Donna Margaret de
Santisteban, and Donna, Maria de Miranda, nuns of Santa Clara at
Valladolid, were likewise strangled and burnt as Lutherans.
Pedro de Sotelo and Francis d'Almarzo suffered the same punishment for
Lutheranism, with Francis Blanco, a New Christian; who had abjured
Mahometanism, and had afterwards fallen into error.
Jane Sanchez, of the class of women called Beates, was condemned as a
Lutheran: when she was informed of her sentence, she cut her throat with
a pair of scissors, and died impenitent some days after in prison. Her
corpse was taken to the _auto-da-fe_ on a bier, and burnt with her
effigy.
Sixteen persons were condemned to penances. I shall only mention those
distinguished for their rank or the nature of their trials.
Donna Isabella de Castilla, the wife of Don Carlos de Seso, voluntarily
confessed that she had adopted some of her husband's opinions; she was
condemned to wear the _san-benito_, to be imprisoned for life, and to be
deprived of her property.
Donna Catherine de Castilla, the niece of the above, suffered the same
punishment.
Donna Francisca de Zuniga Reinoso, sister to Donna Catherine, who was
burnt in the same _auto-da-fe_, and a nun in the same convent was
condemned, with Donna Philippina de Heredia and Donna Catherine
d'Alcaraz, two of her companions, to be deprived of the power of voting
in her community, and prohibited from going out of the convent.
Antonio Sanchez, an inhabitant of Salamanca, was punished as a false
witness; it was proved that he had deposed falsely for the purpose of
causing a Jew to be burnt: he was condemned to receive two hundred
stripes; was deprived of half his property, and sent to the galleys for
five years. The compassion of the inquisitors for this sort of criminals
is an incontestable fact, although they did not hesitate to condemn
heretics to death, if they had only concealment, or an insincere
repentance to reproach them with.
Pedro d'Aguilar, a shearer, born at Tordesillas, pretended to be an
alguazil of the Inquisition, and appeared at Valladolid with the _wand_
of the Holy Office on the day of the celebration of the first
_auto-da-fe_; he afterwards went to a town in the province of Campos,
where he said that he was commissioned to open the tomb of a bishop, and
take the bones to be burnt in an _auto-da-fe_, as belonging to a man who
had died in the Judaic heresy. Pedro was condemned to receive four
hundred stripes, to have his property confiscated, and to be sent to the
galleys for life. This affair proves that the inquisitors considered it
a much greater crime to pretend to be an alguazil of the Holy Office,
than to bear false-witness, and to cause the death of a man, the
confiscation of his property, and the condemnation of his posterity to
infamy!
Such is the history of the two celebrated _autos-da-fe_ of Valladolid,
of which so much has been said, although nothing certain was known of
them. It is an interesting circumstance that the Inquisition was at the
same time proceeding against forty-five persons distinguished for their
rank or personal qualities; of these forty-five persons, ten had been
arrested. It is not to be supposed that the inquisitors only prosecuted
these persons: the trial of Carranza, Archbishop of Seville, was the
origin of a great number against bishops and other distinguished
individuals. I have confined myself to those of which I could consult
the papers; it would be a task beyond the strength of one man to read
all that have accumulated in the archives.