A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1

by Henry Charles Lea

In the perfected doctrine of the Church it was simply a question of policy and possibility whether the faith is to be extended by force or not, for the pope is supreme and has the authority to punish all, whether Jew or Gentile, who do not conform to the gospel.—Eymerici Direct. Inquisitor, p. 353 (Ed. Venet. 1607).

[122] Concil. Toletan. IV, ann. 633, cap. 57—adopted into the canon law (Decr. cap. 5, Dist. XLV)—as well as a decretal of Gregory IV—“Judæi non sunt cogendi ad fidem, quam tamen si invite susceperint, cogendi sunt retinere” (Ibid. cap. 4). See also Ll. Wisigoth. Lib. XII, Tit. ii, l. 4 (Recared I), continued in Fuero Juzgo, XII, ii, 4.

The Jew who had been baptized in infancy, or who accepted baptism as an alternative of death, and reverted to Judaism was to be prosecuted by the Inquisition as a heretic.—Nicholai, PP. IV. Bull. Turbato corde, 1288 (Bullar. Roman. I, 158, 179, 184, 263).—Cap. 13 in Sexto, Lib. V, Tit. ii.—Bernard. Guidon. Practica, P. v, § v, n. 1.—Pegnæ Comment. in Eymeric. Direct. Inquis., p. 349. For the established formula of interrogatory, of Jews see MSS. Bibl. National de France, Collect. Doat., T. XXXVII, fol. 258.

The forced conversion of Jews, so frequent throughout the Middle Ages, gave rise to many nice questions, exhaustively debated by the schoolmen. The subject is fully treated in a Tractatus de Judæorum et Christianorum communione, etc., printed in Strassburg about 1470 (Hain, 9465), in which, for convenient use and reference, is gathered together all the ecclesiastical legislation against the unfortunate race, forming a deplorable exhibition of human perversity.

[123] Concil. Toletan. IV, ann. 633, cap. 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66; Conc. VI, ann. 638, cap. 3; Conc. VIII, ann. 653, cap. 12; Conc. IX, ann. 655, cap. 17; Conc. X, ann. 656, cap. 7; Conc. XII, ann. 681, cap. 9; Conc. XIII, ann. 683, cap. 9; Conc. XVI, ann. 693, cap. 1.

Ll. Wisigoth. Lib. XII, Tit. ii, ll. 4-17; Tit. iii, ll. 1, 2, 10, 12, 16, 17, 19, 24 (Fuero Juzgo, ibidem.).

[124] S. Juliani Toleti Vit. Wambæ, n. 5, 28 (Florez, España Sagrada, VI, 536, 556).

[125] Concil. Toletan. XVII, ann. 694, cap. 8.

[126] Roderic. Toletan. de Rebus Hispan. Lib. III, cap. xvi.—Morales, Corónica General, T. VI, p. 361. Isidor of Beja, however, is the best authority for the period, and he speaks of Witiza in terms of high praise (Isidor. Pacens. Chron. n. 29, 30). See also Dozy, Recherches sur l’Histoire et la Littérature de l’Espagne, I, 16-17 (3^e Éd. Leipzig, 1881).

[127] Rod. Toletan. op. cit. Lib. III, cap. xxii, xxiii.—Dozy, I, 49, 52.