OF SOME AUTOS-DA-FE CELEBRATED IN MURCIA.
The opinions of Luther, Calvin, and the other Protestant reformers, were
not disseminated in the other cities in Spain with the same rapidity as
at Seville and Valladolid; but there is reason to believe that all Spain
would soon have been infected with the heresy, but for the extreme
severity shown towards the Lutherans. From 1560 to 1570 at least one
_auto-da-fe_ was celebrated every year in every Inquisition of the
kingdom, and some heretics of the new sect always appeared among the
condemned persons. Yet the progress of Lutheranism cannot be compared to
that of Judaism and Mahometanism, because these religions had been long
established, and the ancestors of a great number of Spanish families had
professed them. An opinion may be formed of what passed in the other
tribunals from some notices of the proceedings of that of Murcia.
On the 7th of June, 1557, a solemn _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated at
Murcia, where eleven individuals were burnt, and forty-three were
reconciled. On the 12th of February, 1559, thirty victims were burnt
with five effigies, and forty-three were reconciled. On the 14th
February, in the same year, 1560, fourteen persons were burnt, and
twenty effigies: twenty-nine persons were subjected to penances.
On the 8th of September, in the same year, sixteen individuals perished
in the flames, and forty-eight were condemned to penances.
On the 15th of March, 1562, another _auto-da-fe_ took place, composed of
twenty-three persons, who were burnt, and of sixty-three who were
condemned to penances. They were all punished as Judaic heretics: among
the first may be remarked, Fray Louis de Valdecanas, a Franciscan,
descended from the ancient Jews; he was condemned for having preached
the law of Moses; Juan de Santa-Fe, Alvarez Xuarez, and Paul d'Ayllon,
alderman or sheriffs; Pedro Gutierrez, a member of the municipality; and
Juan de Leon, syndic of the city.
An _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated in the same town on the 20th of May,
1563; seventeen persons were burnt in person, and four in effigy;
forty-seven others were subjected to penances. I shall mention those
distinguished by their rank or some particularity in their trials.
Don Philip of Aragon, son of the Emperor of Fez and Morocco, came to
Spain while he was very young, and became a Christian; he had for his
godfather Ferdinand of Aragon, Viceroy of Valencia, Duke of Calabria,
and eldest son of the King of Naples, Frederic III. Neither his rank, as
the son of an emperor, nor the advantage of having a prince for his
godfather, were sufficient to prevent the inquisitors from exposing him
to the disgrace of appearing in a solemn _auto-da-fe_; he was introduced
in the ceremony with the paper mitre on his head, terminated by long
horns, and covered with figures of devils. In this state he was admitted
to public reconciliation, after which he was to be imprisoned for three
years in a convent, then banished for ever from the town of Elche where
he had settled, and from the kingdoms of Valencia, Aragon, Murcia, and
Grenada. The inquisitors boasted much of the lenity of this sentence,
and informed the public that it was occasioned by Don Philip's having
given himself up, instead of taking flight as he might have done. It
appears that, after his baptism, he had shown some interest and
inclination to the sect of Mahomet; he had also given assistance to some
apostates, and had shown himself a favourer and concealer of heretics.
He was also accused of having made a compact with the devil, and having
practised sorcery.
The licentiate Antonio de Villena, a native of Albacete, and a priest
and preacher much esteemed at court, appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ in his
shirt, with his head uncovered and a flambeau in his hand; he abjured
heresy as slightly suspected. He was reconciled, and condemned to one
year's imprisonment, without the privilege of celebrating the holy
mysteries; deprived for ever of the power of preaching, banished from
Madrid for two years, and obliged to pay five hundred ducats toward the
expenses of the holy office. His crime was having spoken ill of the
Inquisition, and of the inquisitor-general Valdes, saying that he
persecuted him, and that he would find an opportunity of complaining to
the king. He had also been unfortunate enough to betray the system of
the prisons of the holy office, after having been detained there twice
for suspicious propositions.
Juan de Sotomayor, of Jewish origin, and a native of the town of Murcia,
appeared in the _auto-da-fe_ as a penitent, with the gag and the cord
round his neck. He was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, to wear
the _San-benito_, and to be imprisoned in the _House of Mercy_ for life,
with a threat that he should be treated with still greater severity if
he presumed to converse with any one on the affairs of the Inquisition.
Juan de Sotomayor had already been arrested and condemned to a penance,
as suspected of Judaism. When he was set at liberty, he conversed with
several persons on the subject, repeated the confession he had made, and
some other circumstances. This was the crime for which he was condemned
to receive two hundred stripes, and to be imprisoned for life!
Francis Guillen, a merchant, of Jewish origin, appeared in the
_auto-da-fe_, with several persons condemned to be _relaxed_, in virtue
of a definitive sentence confirmed by the Supreme Council, which was to
be read during the ceremony, with the charges against him. In the midst
of the _auto-da-fe_ Francis announced that he had new declarations to
make. Immediately Don Jerome Manrique (son of the Cardinal of that name,
and who was afterwards inquisitor-general) descended from the tribunal,
took off the insignia of _relaxation_, and gave Francis those belonging
to a person intended to be reconciled.
The history of this trial proves the arbitrary conduct, and the disorder
with which the inquisitors pursued and judged the causes, and executed
their sentences.
More than twenty witnesses deposed that Francis Guillen had attended
assemblies of the Jews in 1551, and the following years. He was sent to
the secret prisons, and his sentence of _relaxation_ was pronounced in
December, 1561. The process having been sent to the Supreme Council, the
Council remarked that two new witnesses having been heard before the end
of the trial, their depositions had not been communicated to the
condemned; in consequence they commanded that this formality should be
fulfilled, and that the votes should be afterwards given, according to
law. The inquisitors obeyed, but they did not agree on the sentence;
some voted for relaxation, the others that the trial should be
suspended, and that the accused should be induced to acknowledge that
which was admitted to be true, from the state of the depositions.
Francis had three audiences, in which he confessed several other facts
which related to himself, or concerned other persons; the inquisitors
then voted a second time for the definitive sentence. Francis was
unanimously declared to be a false penitent, for having confessed only a
part of his crimes, and he was condemned to be _relaxed_; but it was
agreed that as he had concealed facts concerning persons of
consideration, he should be induced to make a more extended declaration.
On the 27th of April, Guillen named twelve accomplices in his heresy,
and ratified his declaration. On the 9th of May it was decreed that he
should be told to prepare to die the next day. Francis inquired if his
life would be spared, supposing that he revealed all he knew: they
replied that he might depend upon the clemency of his judges. He
demanded another audience, named a great many persons as his
accomplices, and designated Fray Louis de Valdecanas as the principal
preacher of the party. Some time after he accused other persons. On the
night of the 19th the inquisitors assembled, with the ordinary and
consultors, and decided that Francis should appear in the _auto-da-fe_
with the habit of the _relaxed_ persons, in order to make him suppose
that he was condemned to die; but that he should be reconciled, with the
punishment of the _san-benito_, perpetual imprisonment, and
confiscation.
When he was placed among those destined to the flames, Francis demanded
an audience. The inquisitor Marinque then informed him of his sentence;
and when he was taken back to the prison, he made a new declaration
against nine persons, alleging that he had forgotten them in his other
depositions: he ratified these on the 22nd of the same month.
Some days after the inquisitor-general caused the tribunal to be
visited; the visitor declared that the judges had acted contrary to the
laws in conducting Francis to the _auto-da-fe_ in the habit of a relaxed
person, when they had decided on his reconciliation. The inquisitors
endeavoured to justify themselves by saying that they thought it would
frighten the accused into making new declarations. The visitor
commanded that Francis should be reconciled and taken to the prison of
the _Penitents_, likewise called that of _Mercy_.
Francis, who was probably a little deranged, declared several times that
he had deceived the inquisitors by accusing some persons as heretics who
were innocent, because he hoped that he should escape death by this
proceeding. These words were reported to the inquisitors, and Francis
was taken to the secret prisons. There was an act of accusation against
him; he acknowledged all the articles of the fiscal, and affirmed upon
oath that all his declarations were true; he ratified them, and begged
that he might be pardoned. On the 19th of January, 1564, he was
condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fe_ with the gag, to receive two
hundred stripes, and to pass three years in the house of _Penitence_.
Francis suffered the stripes, but they did not render him more prudent,
for he declared, even in the prison, that he was unjustly treated, for
all that he had said was false, and dictated by fear.
In 1565, the Inquisition of Murcia received the visit of a new
commissary, who obliged Francis to appear before him as a witness, to
ratify a declaration which he had made against Catherine Perez, his
wife, for Judaism. The following dialogue took place between the visitor
and the witness:--
Do you remember making a declaration against Catherine Perez, your
wife?--Yes.
What was that declaration?--It will be found in the writings of the
trial. (The declaration was here read to Francis.)
Is what you have just heard true?--No.
Why then did you affirm that it was so?--Because I heard an inquisitor
say it.
Are the declarations against other persons true?--No.
Why did you make them?--Because I perceived in the _auto-da-fe_ at which
I assisted, that the contents were read in the publication of the
depositions, and I thought that if I declared it to be true, I should
avoid death as being a good penitent.
Why did you make your ratification after the _auto-da-fe_, when the
fiscal presented you as a witness against your wife, and other
persons?--For the same reason.
After this conversation, Francis was sent back to the prison, where he
wrote a kind of memorial, in which he said that none of the witnesses
were admissible against him, because they differed and contradicted each
other in their declarations.
When the visitor was gone, the inquisitors recommenced their
prosecution; the fiscal accused Francis Guillen of the crime of
_revocation_, saying that he had imposed on them from fear, ignorance,
or some other motive. When Francis again found himself in danger, he, as
might have been expected, declared that his first depositions were true,
and that the cause of his retracting was a mental indisposition, with
which he had been affected. On the 10th November, 1565, Francis was
condemned to appear in the _auto-da-fe_, to receive three hundred
stripes, and to pass the rest of his life in a prison. The punishment of
imprisonment was commuted for that of serving in the galleys, as long as
the strength and health of Francis allowed of it. The judges reserved
the right of deciding this point themselves. The prisoner was conducted
to the _auto-da-fe_ on the 9th of December, and suffered the punishment
of whipping; he was then transferred to the common royal prison.
After he arrived there, he wrote to his judges, declaring himself
incapable of serving in the galleys. The tribunal revised the judgment,
and sent him to the house of _Mercy_. This proceeding displeased the
fiscal, who protested against it, saying, that the office of the judges
did not extend beyond the sentence, and that they had not the right of
commuting the punishment, without the consent of the
inquisitor-general; the affair stopped here, and Francis had been
sufficiently punished for his indiscretion to render him more cautious
for the future.
The irregularity and disorder of the proceedings of this tribunal may be
seen still more clearly in another trial before the Inquisition of
Murcia, about the same time, and which was undertaken in consequence of
the depositions of Guillen. It was instituted against _Melchior
Hernandez_, a merchant of Toledo, which place he afterwards left to
establish himself at Murcia. As he was descended from the Jews, he was
suspected of being attached to the religion of his ancestors. After
being taken to the secret prisons from the informations of seven
witnesses, he had his first audience of _admonition_ on the 5th of June,
1564; he was accused of having frequented a clandestine synagogue in
Murcia, from 1551 to 1557, when the assembly was discovered; and of
having acted and discoursed in a manner that proved his apostasy. Two
witnesses afterwards appeared, and the accused having denied all the
charges, the publication of the nine deponents was given to him: he
persisted in his denial, and by the advice of his defender, alleged that
the evidence of the witnesses could not be admitted, as they
contradicted each other, and several of them were known to be his
enemies.
To prove this, and to challenge some other persons, he presented a
memorial which was admitted, although it was afterwards considered to
have failed in disproving the charges.
A new witness was heard, when Melchior fell dangerously ill. On the 25th
of January, 1565, he made the sacramental confession, and on the 29th
demanded an audience, when he said that his memory was bad, but he
remembered being in a house in 1553, where a number of persons, whom he
named, were assembled; he denied having uttered anything concerning the
law of Moses, and that the only thing he could reproach himself with,
was not having declared that the others had made it the subject of
conversation.
Four days after, he declared that all that had been said in the assembly
was spoken in jest. Several days after this he said that he had not
heard what these persons said; and that he had affirmed the contrary,
because the witnesses had deposed to that effect.
Another witness, who was in the prison, was produced, who deposed, that
after Melchior had written his memorial, he formed a plan of escaping,
and endeavoured to induce his companions to accompany him. The
procurator-fiscal read to him the act of accusation, and he denied all
that it contained.
At this period, the visitor Don Martin de Coscojales arrived, and
examined the prisoner, who affirmed that if he had said anything, he was
induced to do it from the fear of death. The advocate made his defence;
Melchior wrote a memorial, which he read to his judges, in which he
challenged several persons as if they had deposed against him.
On the 24th September, 1565, Melchior suffered the _question in caput
alienum_, with the view of making him confess what he knew of some
suspected persons, but he bore it without speaking. On the 18th of
October he was declared to be a Jewish heretic, guilty of concealment in
his judicial confession, and condemned to _relaxation_, as a false
penitent and obstinate heretic.
Although the sentence was pronounced, it was resolved to press Melchior
once more to reveal the truth. The _auto-da-fe_ was to be celebrated on
the 9th of December, 1565; he was exhorted on the 7th; he replied that
he had confessed all he knew; yet, when he was told on the 8th to
prepare for death, he demanded an audience, and declared that he had
seen and heard the suspected persons and several others, and that they
spoke of the law of Moses, but that he considered these conversations to
be of no consequence, and a mere pastime.
On the 9th, before daylight, Melchior was dressed in the garb of the
_relaxed_ persons, when perceiving that his confessions were not
sufficient to save him, he demanded an audience, and mentioned the
persons designated in the information, as forming part of the assembly,
besides twelve other individuals who had not been named to him; but he
added that he did not approve of their doctrine.
Some minutes after, finding that the marks of condemnation were not
taken from him, he added the names of two or three accomplices, declared
the name of the person who had preached on the Law of Moses, and even
confessed that he approved of some of the things which he had heard.
Lastly, when his confessions did not produce the effect he wished, he
said, that he really believed in what was preached in the synagogue, and
persisted in this belief for a year; but that he had not confessed,
because he thought there was no proof of his heresy in the depositions
of the witnesses. The inquisitors decreed that Melchior should not
appear in the _auto-da-fe_ of this day, and that they would consult on
the proper measures to be taken.
On the 14th of December, Melchior ratified his propositions of the 9th,
but on the condition that all that had passed should not separate him
from the Catholic communion, or cause him to be considered as a Judaic
heretic. On the 18th he desired another audience, and again confessed
that he believed in the Law of Moses. Yet on the 29th of June, 1566, he
declared that the Holy Scriptures were read in the assembly, that he
believed part of what he heard, and had consulted a priest on the
subject; that the priest told him it ought to be held in contempt, and
that this decision had regulated his subsequent conduct.
On the 6th of May, 1566, the tribunal assembled to decide whether the
definitive sentence pronounced against Melchior should be executed. Two
of the consultors voted in the affirmative; the inquisitors, the
ordinary, and the other consultors agreed that Melchior had confessed
enough to entitle him to reconciliation. In an audience on the 28th of
May, the accused again asked pardon, alleging that he had only believed
what he heard, until he was undeceived by the priest. On the 30th he
declared that he thought all he had heard necessary to salvation.
In the October following, he was again admitted to an audience, where he
spoke against the inquisitor, who had received his confession on the day
of the _auto-da-fe_ (this was Don Jerome Manrique); he complained of the
ill treatment he had been subjected to, in order to obtain new
declarations. He acknowledged that his confessions on that day were
true, but added that the presence of two inquisitors was necessary to
prevent the abuse of authority which took place in his case.
The fiscal protested against the act of reconciliation granted to
Melchior on the 6th of May, 1566, and demanded that the sentence of
_relaxation_ pronounced on the 8th of October, 1565, should be executed,
because the accused had shown no signs of true repentance, and would not
fail to seduce others into heresy if he was pardoned. The inquisitors
consulted the Supreme Council, which decided that the prisoner should be
examined again before the ordinary and consultors, and the affair
submitted to the Council. The sentence was pronounced on the 9th of May,
1567; three of the judges voted for the _relaxation_, and two for the
_reconciliation_ of the accused.
The Supreme Council decreed on the 6th of May, that Melchior should be
_relaxed_, and the tribunal of Murcia pronounced a second definitive
sentence according to the orders which they received. The execution was
to take place on the 8th of the following month.
In contempt of the rules of common law, Melchior was called up on the
5th, 6th, and 7th of June, and exhorted to discover his accomplices; as
he did not know that he was already sentenced, he referred them to what
he had confessed before. But when he found that he was to be arrayed in
the habit of a _relaxed_ person, he declared that he could name other
accomplices. The inquisitor went to the prison, and Melchior designated
another house where the Jews assembled, and named seven persons, whom he
said he had seen there; he also wrote a list of seven synagogues, and of
fourteen persons who frequented them. He afterwards named another house
of Judaic heretics.
He was conducted to the _auto-da-fe_ with the other persons condemned to
be burnt. When he arrived at the place of execution, he demanded another
audience, in which he named two other houses, and twelve heretics; on
being told that this declaration was not sufficient to confirm the
result of the trial, he said he would endeavour to recollect others, and
a few minutes after he denounced seven persons. Before the conclusion of
the _auto-da-fe_, he desired to make a third confession, and named two
houses and six individuals; the inquisitors then agreed to suspend the
execution, and to send Melchior back to the prison. This was what he
wished, and on the 12th of June he signed his ratification; but when
told that he was suspected of having other accomplices, he replied that
he did not remember any other.
On the 13th, Melchior declared that he was mistaken in naming a certain
person among his accomplices, but pretended to remember another house,
and two persons whom he named.
The procurator-fiscal again spoke in favour of the _relaxation_ of the
accused, alleging that he had been guilty of concealment; Melchior,
supposing that his death was resolved upon, demanded an audience on the
23rd of June, and endeavoured to excite the compassion of his judges.
"What more could I do," he exclaimed, "than accuse myself falsely? Know
that I have never been summoned to any assembly, that I never attended
them for any purposes but those of commerce."
Melchior was summoned to fifteen audiences during the months of July,
August, and September; his replies were always the same. On the 16th of
October another witness appeared, but Melchior denied his statement, as
well as that of a witness who was examined on the 30th of December.
Melchior wrote his defence, and demanded that his own witnesses should
be heard, in order to prove that he was not at Murcia, but at Toledo, at
the time specified by his accusers; but the inquisitors did not think
the evidence offered by the accused sufficient to invalidate that of the
witnesses against him.
Melchior was at last sentenced to _relaxation_ for the third time, on
the 20th of March; he, however, had not forgotten the means he had
formerly used to save himself, and returned from the _auto-da-fe_. In
five subsequent audiences, he made a long declaration against himself,
and denounced a great number of persons. He was then told that he was
still guilty of concealment in not mentioning several persons not less
distinguished and well known than those he had already denounced, and
that he could not be supposed to have forgotten them.
This proceeding destroyed the tranquillity which Melchior had hitherto
shown; and after a long invective against the inquisitors and all who
had appeared on the trial, he said, "What can you do to me? burn me?
well, then, be it so: I cannot confess what I do not know. Nevertheless
know that all I have said of myself is true, but what I have declared of
others is entirely false. I have only invented it because I perceived
that you wished me to denounce innocent persons; and being unacquainted
with the names and quality of these unfortunate people, I named all whom
I could think of, in the hope of finding an end of my misery. I now
perceive that my situation admits of no relief, and I therefore retract
all my depositions; and now I have fulfilled this duty, burn me as soon
as you please."
The trial was sent to the Supreme Council, which confirmed the sentence
of _relaxation_ for the third time, and wrote to reprimand the tribunal
for having _summoned_ the accused before them after passing the
sentence, since an audience should only take place at the request of the
accused.
Instead of submitting to this opinion, the inquisitors called Melchior
before them on the 31st of May, and asked him if he had nothing else to
communicate; he replied in the negative: they then represented to him
that his declarations contained many contradictions, and that it was
necessary for the good of his soul, that he should finally make a
confession of the truth, respecting himself and all the guilty persons
he was acquainted with.
These words show the cunning of the inquisitors; their object was to
induce the accused to retract his last declaration: but Melchior,
knowing the character of the inquisitors, replied, that if they wished
to know the truth, they would find it in the declaration which he made
before the Senor _Ayora_, when he visited the tribunal. This writing was
examined, and it was found that Melchior had said, _that he knew nothing
of the subject on which he was examined_. The following conversation
then took place:--
"How can this declaration be true, when you have several times declared
that you have attended the Jewish assemblies, believed in their
doctrines, and persevered in the belief for the space of one year, until
you were undeceived by a priest?"--"I spoke falsely when I made a
declaration against myself."
"But how is it that what you have confessed of yourself, and many other
things which you now deny, are the result of the depositions of a great
many witnesses?"--"I do not know if that is true or false, for I have
not seen the writings of the trial; but if the witnesses have said that
which is imputed to them, it is because they were placed in the same
situation as I am. They do not love me better than I love myself; and I
have certainly declared against myself both truth and falsehood."
"What motive had you for declaring things injurious to yourself, if they
were false?"--"I did not think it would be injurious to me; on the
contrary, I expected to derive great advantages from it, because I saw
that if I did not confess anything, I should be considered as
impenitent, and the truth would lead me to the scaffold. I thought that
falsehood would be most useful to me, and I found it so in two
_autos-da-fe_."
On the 6th of June Melchior Hernandez was informed that he must prepare
for death on the following day. He was clothed in the habit of the
persons condemned to be burnt, and a confessor was appointed for him. At
two o'clock in the morning he demanded an audience, saying that he
wished to acquit his conscience. An inquisitor, attended by a secretary,
went to his cell; Melchior then declared "that, at the point of
appearing before the tribunal of the Almighty, and without any hope of
escaping from death by new delays, he thought himself bound to declare
that he had never conversed with any person on the Mosaical Law; that
all he had said on this subject was founded on the wish to preserve
life, and the belief that his confessions were pleasing to the
inquisitors; that he asked pardon of the persons implicated, that God
might pardon him, and that no injury might be done to their honour and
reputation."
The inquisitor represented that he ought not to speak falsely, even from
a motive of compassion for the denounced persons; that the declarations
of the witnesses had every appearance of truth, and he therefore
entreated him, in the name of God, not to increase his sins at the hour
of death. Melchior merely repeated that all his former declarations were
false. The royal judge condemned him to be strangled, and his body was
afterwards burnt.
Some doubts may be entertained of the sincerity of the last declarations
of Melchior Hernandez, but the extreme irregularity of the proceedings
of the tribunal must be evident to every one. The intervention of the
Supreme Council proves that the same system was pursued in the other
tribunals, since it approved of their proceedings, and exercised the
rights of revocation and censure.
In 1564 another _auto-da-fe_ took place at Murcia, one person and eleven
effigies were burnt; there were also forty-eight penitents, but the
following circumstance was the cause of this ceremony being more
particularly remembered. Pedro Hernandez had been reconciled in 1561, as
suspected of Judaism. In 1564 he fell sick, and through the mediation of
his confessor demanded an audience of the inquisitors. One of them went
to his house, and Pedro told him that he had denied the crime of which
he was accused, and had afterwards made a confession, alleging as an
excuse for this conduct, that a French priest had given him absolution.
He now confessed that this was not true, and that he wished to relieve
his conscience by acknowledging it before he died. The inquisitors
presented this declaration to the tribunal, which immediately caused
Pedro to be taken from his bed and conveyed to their prisons, where he
died three days after.
Three other _autos-da-fe_ took place at Murcia in the years 1565, 1567,
and 1568, in which thirty-five persons were burnt, and a considerable
number condemned to penances.