Records of the Spanish Inquisition, Translated from the Original Manuscripts

by Andrew Dickson White

March, 1737.

On the sixteenth of this month, the ratifications of the testimony were received in the tribunal, the business having been delayed on account of the great diversity of quarters occupied by the regiment of the Queen’s Dragoons.

May, 1737.

On the eighth, ninth, and tenth of April, the testimony was given in publication, and a copy of the same given to the prisoner, that he might arrange his defence by the help of his counsel. On the eleventh, an audience was held, in which he conferred with Dr Manuel Bonvehi, his advocate, and on the second of May, an audience was held, in which his defence was received. On the ninth of the same month, the commission and papers relating to the affair, were sent for.

June, 1737.

The papers were not received this month, on account of the difficulty in finding the requisite persons, but it is expected the business will be accomplished shortly.

July, 1737.

On the sixth of this month, the papers were received, and on the eighth the prisoner communicated with his counsel. On the seventeenth, the testimony against him was attested in plenario, and his condemnation confirmed. On the twentyninth, the proceedings of the trial were examined, and the Reverend Father M. Fr. Mariano Anglasell being present in the capacity of Judge Ordinary of the bishopric of Solsona, it was unanimously ordered that the prisoner be put to the regular torture; which sentence was ordered to be previously submitted to your Highness.

September, 1737.

On the thirtieth of August, your Highness confirmed the above sentence, and ordered that the torture should be given ad arbitrium, to extort a confession of the acts and intentions of the prisoner. The papers relating to the trial which had been forwarded, were received back on the seventh of the present month. The prisoner being under the hands of the physician, on account of his health, the torture could not be applied till the twentieth, when the physician having certified that he was then in a condition to endure it, an audience was held, and the charges against the prisoner repeated, to which he answered that he had nothing to reply, further than what had been already said. He was then apprised of the sentence against him, and despatched to the torture room, where he confessed that he had uttered many of the assertions imputed to him, but that it was done in sport, and at times when his companions had intoxicated him, and he was not conscious of what he said, believing in his heart the contrary to what he had uttered.