With a little prudence he might have remained undetected through life, but his successes tempted him to undertakings which led to his discovery. He fell in company with a Jesuit travelling to Portugal, with an apostolic brief for the foundation there of a college of that order. These two concerted measures for introducing the Inquisition as well as the Jesuits into Portugal. Saavedra forged letters from Charles V. to the King of Portugal, and a papal bull establishing the Inquisition in that country. This bull appointed Saavedra legate a latere for the purpose.
This daring and brazenfaced impostor then took upon him the character and costume of a Roman cardinal. He travelled with litters, silver dishes, and a train of attendants, levying money on his course by forging bonds. He sent his secretary to Lisbon with his bull and papers to prepare for his reception. The king despatched to the frontiers a distinguished nobleman to receive him, and he made his entry into Lisbon, where he spent three months, and was treated with the highest respect. He afterwards travelled through the kingdom, and completed the business for which he had made his visit. He was at last detected by the Inquisitor General of Spain and arrested. After a trial by the Inquisition, he was sentenced to the gallies for ten years. The king added nine years more to the period. Almost all the establishments made by him in Portugal, were retained under the pretence that the Holy Office was necessary to persecute the Jews.
It has been the endeavour of the Spanish monarchs to extend it to every country under their dominion. The Emperor Charles V., whose zeal for the Inquisition has procured him the title of the Don Quixote of the Faith, established it in the Netherlands in 1522, and vast multitudes, who had embraced the Reformed religion, perished on its funeral piles. This bloody persecution was one of the means of exciting the revolt by which Holland was freed from the Spanish yoke.[9] An attempt was also made by him to introduce it into Naples, but it encountered the most determined opposition. The Neapolitans rose in insurrection, massacred the Spaniards, and obliged the emperor to give over the project. About the time of its appearance in the Netherlands it was also established in the Spanish dominions in America. The first autos de fe were celebrated at Lima in 1639.[10] The Portuguese carried it into their East Indian Colonies, fixing it at Goa in 1559.[11] In Brazil, however, it has never existed.
The modern history of the Inquisition must be familiar to every reader. Its abolition by Napoleon in 1808, its reestablishment under Ferdinand VII. and its second overthrow by the Spanish people in 1820, are events too well known to need a recapitulation here.
RECORDS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION.
TRIAL OF PEDRO GINESTA, NATIVE OF THE VILLAGE OF ST QUINTI, IN THE DIOCESE OF ST FLOR, FOR EATING BACON ON A PROHIBITED DAY
IN the Royal Palace of the Inquisition of Barcelona, on the fourth day of September, one thousand six hundred and thirtyfive, present, the Inquisitor Dr Domingo Abbad y Huerta, officiating alone in his morning audience; having examined the information received against Pedro Ginesta, native of the village of St Quinti, diocese of St Flor, and Joan Mella, of the village of St Maurion, parish of Xauvinar, diocese of Clermont, in the kingdom of France, by occupation both braziers, the same being in custody of the Commissioner of Salas in the prison of Agna Villa,—ordered, that the abovementioned persons be transferred to the secret prison of this palace of the Inquisition,[12] and that their trial be instituted in form; also ordered, that the Commissioner aforesaid be instructed to attest ad perpetuam the evidence of the witnesses, ascertain the identity of the persons whom they depose against, and whether the said prisoners be the persons whom they charge with having eaten bacon on St Bartholomew’s eve, notwithstanding the prohibition; also that the said prisoners, after the business of the deposition is despatched, be conveyed with care by the hands of the several Familiars, to the prison of this Inquisition.
For which purpose let the necessary measures be taken.
Before me—
Mattheo Magre, Sec’y.