The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

by Juan Antonio Llorente

First proposition, taken from the testimony of Diego de Bustamente.—Some one told Perez not to speak ill of Don John of Austria: he replied, "After being accused by the king of having disguised the sense of my letters, and betraying the secrets of the council, it is just that I should vindicate myself without respect of persons: If God the Father put any obstacle in the way of it, I would cut off his nose for having permitted the king to behave like a disloyal knight towards me."—QUALIFICATION. This proposition is blasphemous, scandalous, offensive to pious ears, and approaching to the heresy of the Vaudois, who suppose that God the Father has a body.

Second proposition, taken from the deposition of Juan de Basante.—Antonio Perez considering the bad state of his affairs, said to me one day, in a fit of grief and anger: "I shall perhaps no longer believe in God. One would say that he sleeps during my trial; if he does not perform a miracle in my favour, I shall lose all faith."—QUALIFICATION. This proposition is scandalous, offensive to pious ears, and suspected of heresy, because it supposes that God sleeps, and has an intimate relation with the preceding proposition. The two remaining accusations were very similar, with similar qualifications. It appears that the words he used were uttered in moments of grief and despair. It is remarkable that the Inquisition has provided for this case, for in one of their ordinances it is decreed, that no person shall be arrested for uttering a blasphemy, when excited by impatience or rage. To this may be added, that the proof was defective, since the second proposition rested solely on the testimony of Basante. With respect to the three others, I shall quote the third article of the instruction of Toledo, in 1498. "We also command the inquisitors to be prudent when a person is to be arrested, and not to issue the decree until they have obtained sufficient proof of the crime of heresy imputed to the accused."

However, as religion was only the ostensible motive for this trial, the Supreme Council, after having seen the censures, decreed on the 21st of May, that Perez and Mayorini should be arrested and confined in the secret prisons of the Inquisition, that they should be strictly watched, and arrested so promptly, that no one should have any suspicion of it.

On the 24th of May, the inquisitors sent an order to the grand alguazil of the holy office, to seize the persons of the accused. The gaoler of the prison of the kingdom declared, that he could not give them up without an order from the chief justice, or one of his lieutenants. The inquisitors wrote on the same day to the lieutenant, and commanded him on pain of excommunication, and a penalty of a thousand ducats, to give up the prisoners in the space of three hours, without allowing the Fuero of the manifestation to be any obstacle, since it could not be applied to a trial for heresy; and for that reason the inquisitors revoked and annulled any such interpretation of the Fuero, as preventing the free exercise of the holy tribunal.

The secretary presented these letters to the chief justice, Don Juan de la Nuza, in a public audience, in the presence of five judges who formed his council, and of all the persons employed in his tribunal. The chief justice submitted to the order of the inquisitors, and the prisoners were conducted to the Inquisition in separate carriages. It was afterwards known that the courier, who brought the order from Madrid, also brought letters from the Count de Chinchon to the Marquis d'Almenara, who, in a private conversation with the chief justice, persuaded him not to insist upon his privileges; and that the two letters of the inquisitors were written on the same night, though they were dated the 24th, because they were previously informed by the marquis of what would take place.

Perez, who foresaw his danger, had imparted his fears to the Count d'Aranda and other nobles, who resolved to oppose this measure as an infraction of the most valuable privilege of the kingdom. Don Diego Fernandez de Heredia, baron de Barboles, afterwards declared, in the trial which brought him to the scaffold, that the Count and Perez agreed to assassinate the Marquis d'Almenara, because if they got rid of him, the king and the Count de Chinchon would renounce their plan of making a Castilian the viceroy of Aragon, who would not fail to destroy all their privileges in succession.

Perez, in his Relations, informs us that the father of the Count d'Aranda above mentioned, and several other persons, claimed and were allowed the privileges of the Fuero de Manifestados, when arrested by the Inquisition.

When Perez was transferred to the prison of the holy office, he told his servants to inform the Baron de Barboles and several other gentlemen of the circumstance. At this news the Aragonese excited the people of Saragossa to revolt, by cries of "Treason! Treason! Live the nation! Live our liberty! Live the Fueros! Death to the traitors!" In less than an hour, more than a thousand men, under arms, surrounded the house of the Marquis d'Almenara, and treated him with so much violence, that he would have been killed if he had not been immediately taken into the royal prison, where he died of his wounds fourteen days after. The insurgents insulted the archbishop, and threatened to kill him and burn his hotel if he did not make the inquisitors give up the prisoners: they menaced the viceroy Bishop of Teruel in the same manner, and assembling to the number of three thousand men, began to set fire to the Castle of Aljaferia, (an ancient palace of the Moorish kings, where the Inquisition was held,) crying that they would burn the inquisitors if they did not give up Perez and Mayorini. Many other events occurred in the city, because Molina de Medrano obstinately persisted in endeavouring to quell the insurrection, contrary to the entreaties twice repeated of the archbishop, the viceroy, of the Counts d'Aranda and Morata, and of many of the first noblemen of Aragon. At last, finding that the danger increased, he appeared to yield, and announced that he would not set the prisoners at liberty, but would give them for the prison of the holy office that of the kingdom, and they were removed thither on the same day.

The inquisitors were left in a critical situation, and did not dare to arrest any one; they addressed several letters to the commissioners of the holy office, some of them accompanied by the order to the lieutenants and their decree, to show that they had not violated the prison of the kingdom, but had only received the persons given up to them by the chief justice: the others were sent with the bull of Pius V., dated 1st of April, 1569, concerning those who opposed the exercise of the holy office; they also proposed to publish an edict, excommunicating several persons already noted in the registers of the Inquisition as having opposed the execution of the orders of the inquisitors, but they were persuaded to relinquish the intention by the archbishop. At this period, some persons who fled to Madrid when the revolt took place, and who were known to be devoted to the king, were examined as witnesses; and it appeared from their depositions, that the Counts d'Aranda and Morata, the Barons de Barboles, de Biescas, de Purroy, de la Laguna, and many others of the first noblemen of the country, had excited the people to sedition, and increased the disturbance by persuading them that the Fuero was attacked.

The members of the permanent deputation of the kingdom thought, that being interested in the defence of the political constitution, they might be accused of having failed in their duty; they therefore endeavoured to justify themselves, by declaring that as theirs was not an armed body or a judicial authority, they could not prevent the revolt. They also thought proper to pronounce by a commission of jurisconsults, that those who had given up the prisoners to the inquisitors, from the prison of the kingdom, had violated its privileges. However the secret intrigues of the inquisitors, the archbishop, the viceroy, and the chief justice were so adroitly conducted, that some members remarked, that four lawyers were not enough to discuss the rights of the king and the holy office. This observation caused nine other jurisconsults to be appointed, and it was decreed that they should decide by a majority of three votes. They declared that the inquisitors had exceeded their powers, when they cancelled the manifestation, because no authority could do so, except that of the king, and the deputies assembled in Cortes; but that if the inquisitors required the prisoners to be given up to them, and the privilege of manifestation was suspended during their prosecution, it would not be contrary to the laws of the kingdom. Antonio Perez wrote to the deputation, to represent that his cause was that of all the Aragonese; several of his friends undertook to shew, that the suspension was equally contrary to the laws, since the prisoner might be tortured, was deprived of his right to his liberty on oath, and was exposed to the misery of an interminable trial; these efforts were all in vain. It was privately decided that the inquisitors should demand the prisoners a second time, without threats or orders, and resting only on the suspension of the privileges. The king was given to understand that it would be useful if he wrote to the Duke de Villahermosa, and the Counts d'Aranda, de Morata, and de Sastago, to engage them to lend assistance to the viceroy, with their relations and friends, and to aid the constituted authorities, if any event rendered it necessary. Philip followed the advice, and his letters to those noblemen were as gracious and flattering, as if he had been ignorant of the part they had taken in the late disturbances.