Don Rodrigo de Castro succeeded in obtaining the required permission. On the 13th of July, 1565, Pius IV. appointed as judges, the Cardinal Buoncompagni (afterwards Pope Gregory XIII.) with the title of Legate; the Archbishop of Rosano (afterwards Pope Urban VII.), the auditor of the Rota, Aldobrandini, and the general of the Franciscans (afterwards Sextus Quintus). The Pope informed Philip of these nominations in a brief, dated the 21st of August following.
The papal envoys arrived in Spain in the month of November. Philip went to Alcala to meet the legate, and received him in the most flattering manner, to induce him to consent that the counsellors of the Inquisition should be associated with the papal judges: this, the legate, who was aware of the inexpedience of the measure, refused. Many powerful intrigues were by the king's order employed to obtain his wish, but they were in vain; and the Pope dying on the night of the 8th of December, Buoncompagni, who wished to assist at the conclave, immediately set off for Rome, without even informing the king of his intention, and leaving the archbishop and his trial in exactly the same state as in the year 1562.
On the 17th of January, 1566, Pius V. was elected. Buoncompagni was informed of this event while he was on the road, and stopped at Avignon. Philip sent a courier to the new Pontiff, to entreat him to confirm the arrangements of his predecessor, which was complied with; his Holiness at the same time commanded the cardinal to return to Spain; he replied that he thought it necessary to have a private conference with his holiness, before he obeyed his orders, and therefore continued his journey. As soon as he arrived at Rome, he proved to the new Pontiff that the trial of Carranza could never be judged with impartiality in Spain, even by judges appointed by the holy see; Pius IV. then determined that the Archbishop of Toledo, and the writings of his trial, should be transferred to Rome, and that Don Ferdinand Valdés should be deprived of the office of inquisitor-general: this he considered necessary, in case the proceedings required that fresh witnesses should be examined in Spain.
Salazar de Mendoza says, that Philip obeyed immediately, but he had not read the history of the trial: it is certain that a great contest ensued; that Pius IV. was firm, and the pride of Philip was obliged to give way, when the Pope threatened to excommunicate him, and to put his kingdom under an interdict. The writings of the trial are still in existence; and I refer to those documents.
The king appointed Don Diego Espinosa, Bishop of Siguenza, to be inquisitor-general; and on the 9th of September, the Pope expedited a bull, in which he says, that on account of the great age and infirmities of Valdés, he had thought proper to appoint Don Diego Espinosa to be his coadjutor, authorizing him to act as inquisitor-general, without any dependance on Valdés. This bull was published, that Valdés might not be dishonoured; but his holiness privately imparted his intentions to Espinosa, in a brief on the 1st of October, commanding him to avoid speaking of the trial of Carranza to Valdés.
The Pope sent Pietro Camayani, Bishop of Asculi, to Spain, with the title of nuncio-extraordinary, and with the most positive orders not to return to Rome without the archbishop, and the writings of his trial. On the 30th of July he addressed a brief to Camayani, which it is necessary to abridge, though of much importance. His Holiness says, that the delay of the trial, and the detention of Carranza, had scandalized all Christendom. He commands him, on pain of excommunication, to signify to the Archbishop of Seville, the Council of the Inquisition, and the other persons concerned in the trial of Carranza, with a menace of the same penalties, the absolute revocation of all the powers intrusted to them; and a positive order, on pain of excommunication in its full extent, to set Carranza immediately at liberty without delay or protestation, and even without requiring any security from him; to place all the papers of the trial in the hands of the nuncio, to be by him transferred to Rome; to subject the detainers of the papers to the same censures, if they did not give them up immediately; to inform the archbishop, when set at liberty, of the order to repair to Rome, and to permit him to appoint an administrator for his see.
Nothing, however, was done as the Pope had ordained. The archbishop was not liberated; the king sent a detachment of his guards to escort him to Carthagena, where he was to embark. He was detained at Valladolid so long by the preparations for his departure, that he only reached Rome on the 29th of May in the following year.
The nuncio was obliged to issue fresh menaces of excommunication, before he could obtain the papers, which detained the archbishop at Carthagena for four months. The ignorance of the nuncio concerning the affair was taken advantage of, and only part of the proceedings were remitted to him, the rest being claimed when the deficiency was discovered at Rome, and thus the delay of a whole year occurred; in short, it was evident that the inquisitors wished to defer the conclusion of the trial till after the death of Carranza. The members of the Chapter of Toledo were remarkable for their courageous devotion to their chief; they appointed two of their body to attend him during his detention, and to render him every service in their power, charging them never to leave him during his voyage and his residence at Rome.
Carranza left his prison on the 5th of December, 1566, after seven years, three months, and fourteen days' captivity, which he had passed in two rooms, from which he could see neither the country nor the street, and without conversing with any persons but his two domestics, and his two advocates. He was not permitted to name an administrator to his archbishopric according to the commands of the Pope: the reason given for this was, that his holiness did not know that an administrator had been already appointed by the king, and that Paul IV. had confirmed the nomination.
Carranza travelled in a litter, and was accompanied by Don Diego Gonzalez, Inquisitor of Valladolid, and Don Lope de Avellaneda, who had been appointed his gaoler in 1561. On his arrival at Carthagena, Gonzalez and the guard returned to Valladolid, as the captain-general of the province was then responsible for his person.