Records of the Spanish Inquisition, Translated from the Original Manuscripts

by Andrew Dickson White

December, 1732.

Blas Ramirez, a native of the village of Paya, in La Huerta, bishopric of Murcia, a soldier in the regiment of dragoons of Tarragona, aged thirtytwo years. Sent prisoner to this Holy Office, by Dr Jacinto Christofol, Curate of the town of La Selva, in the archbishopric of Tarragona, and Commissary of the Holy Office. A letter accompanied the prisoner from this Commissary, dated the eighth of November, and another of the same date was received from Dr Joseph Solano, chaplain of the regiment abovementioned. In both of these it was stated that the said Blas Ramirez had made a league with the devil, according to his own spontaneous confession. The aforementioned Dr Joseph Solano having communicated the case to the Archbishop of Tarragona, he was directed by him to transmit information of the same to the Commissary Dr Jacinto Christofol, who apprehended the said Blas Ramirez, and sent him under a guard to this Holy Office. On the thirteenth of November, Luis Pusol, the Familiar, gave him in charge to the Alcayde of the secret prisons, and on the same day the Inquisitor Fiscal offered a request that he might be kept in the carceles comunes, till the letter of the above Dr Joseph Solano should be examined, and his reasons explained for putting him into the hands of the Commissary as an offender against the faith, as well as to ascertain if there existed other evidence against him besides his confession. On the sixteenth a commission for making investigations upon this head was granted to Dr Mariano Morlaus, Commissary of the Holy Office, in the town of Tarragona, as the regiment abovementioned was quartered in that town and the neighbourhood. On the twentieth the commission was returned with the information that the abovementioned Dr Joseph Solano had left that place for Logroño, there to remain till Lent.

In the meantime the prisoner requested an audience, which was granted on the nineteenth of November, and he made the following declaration. When he was a youth he lived with the Curate of his village, and performed the offices of cooking, sweeping the house, and such other work as is usually performed by women, on which account some people called him a hermaphrodite, which, however, was not the fact. After his master died he suffered much poverty and mortification on account of the ridicule which this brought upon him. He joined the religious orders of St Francis and St Dominic, but was expelled from both when the report became current that he was a hermaphrodite. Finding himself overwhelmed with vexation and poverty, he at last invoked the devil to assist him in his misfortunes, offering him his soul if he would change his appearance into that of a woman, that he might earn a living by prostitution. The devil accordingly appeared to him several times, first in a human shape and afterwards in that of a monstrous animal. He demanded a certificate of the possession of his soul, which he was unwilling to grant, but offered to give him his word to surrender himself after seven years, if the devil would grant him his conditions. He afterwards repented of his iniquitous practices, and sought a remedy for his soul by following the directions of the Rector of the town of La Selva, Commissary of the Holy Office, and those of the Chaplain of his regiment, Dr Joseph Solano, which persons, in consequence of his confessions, transmitted him a prisoner to this Holy Office. A request has been made that letters be sent to the Inquisition of Navarre, demanding an examination of the said Dr Joseph Solano.

April, 1733.

Letters were sent to the Tribunal of the Inquisition of Logroño, requesting an examination of Dr Joseph Solano, who was residing in that district. On the twentieth of November, a letter was received from Dr Mariano Morlans, Commissary of the Holy Office in the town of Tarrega, bishopric of Solsona, stating that a priest of that town was ready to denounce the prisoner, from what he had heard of the colonel of his regiment respecting his compact with the devil. On the twentysecond of the same month, a commission was demanded for the above mentioned Dr Mariano Morlans to examine the said priest, and summon the colonel referred to, as a witness against the prisoner. On the eleventh of December following, the said Commissary Morlans transmitted the information against the prisoner, gathered from thirteen witnesses, most of whom deposed that they positively knew the prisoner to be a woman, and one of them stated that he had asked the prisoner how she could, being a woman, procure such a thick beard. She replied that she had produced it with the help of an ointment; that she had been seduced and abandoned in her youth; that she afterwards dressed herself like a man, and turned soldier.

Another of the witnesses deposed that the prisoner informed him she was once a boy, and entertained a wish to become a female from her attachment to a young man. That the devil appeared to her in the shape of a handsome youth, and demanded what she wanted; to which she replied that she wished for the shape of a female. This the devil granted her, and they made a compact, by virtue of which she was to be alternately male and female, changing sex every seven years; which alteration she had effected by means of a certain herb.

On the seventeenth of December, the Inquisitor Fiscal requested that the acts and declarations of the prisoner might be attested, and this having been done in a junta of four Calificadores, the same persons unanimously presented the prisoner as a wizard, sorcerer, and one holding an explicit compact with the devil.

The information above specified having been received distinct from the prisoner’s own declaration, in the audience which he had requested, the Inquisitor Fiscal petitioned that he might not be tried as an Espontaneo,[20] on account of what he had concealed in his confession, that he might be removed into the secret prison, and his trial instituted forthwith. On the eighteenth of the same month, orders were issued for confining him in the secret prison, and commencing his trial. Three audiences were held, in which he confessed nothing beyond what he had declared in his first confession on the thirteenth of November. On the twentyfirst of January the accusation was presented, and an audience was held the same day, when the prisoner replied to the charges. On the two following days the acts which he had omitted in his confession were attested, and the prisoner declared that although in the bargain which he had made with the devil he had offered to surrender up his soul, yet he had not paid him any worship, nor abjured our Holy Faith, notwithstanding he internally consented to the delivery of his soul, and in consequence departed from our Holy Faith and God our Lord.

The prisoner was furnished with a copy of the accusation, and on the twentyfourth conferred with his counsel, reserving his defence till after the publication of the testimony. The case was then admitted for proof, and the witnesses residing at a great distance, and in various places, the ratification of the testimony was delayed for some time. The business being finally accomplished, publication of the testimony was made on the thirteenth and fourteenth of April. In the audiences which were held on those days, the prisoner declared nothing of consequence. The audience for communication with his counsel was held on the sixteenth, and that for the defence will be held as soon as possible.

* * * * * * * *