In 1532, a grand general auto-da-fé was held at Madrid, at which the king and all the royal family attended. Seven persons were burnt, with four effigies, and forty-two reconciled; they were almost all Portuguese, or of Portuguese parents. The following circumstance has rendered this auto-da-fé very famous. Miguel Rodriguez, and Isabella Martinez Albarez, his wife, were the proprietors of a house used by the condemned as a synagogue. They were accused of having struck the image of Jesus Christ with a whip, and of having crucified and insulted it in various ways, as if to revenge themselves upon it for all the evils which the Christians made them suffer. The holy office caused this house to be razed to the ground, and an inscription was placed on the spot. A monastery for the Capuchins was afterwards built on the site, and named the Convent of Patience, in allusion to the outrages which our Saviour allowed them to commit on his image: a report was then spread that the image spoke to the Jews three times, and that they did not hesitate to burn it. Solemn masses were performed at Madrid and other cities in the kingdom, to expiate the sacrilege which had been committed.
On the 22nd of June, 1636, another general auto-da-fé was held at Valladolid, composed of twenty-eight persons. The punishment inflicted on the Jews seems entirely novel: one hand was nailed to a wooden cross, and in that state they were obliged to hear read the report of their trial, and the sentence which condemned them to perpetual imprisonment for having insulted our Saviour and the Virgin by their blasphemies. A Beata also appeared in this auto-da-fé; she was known by the name of Lorenza: her crimes were the same as those of the other women of her class; she pretended that she had seen apparitions of the Devil, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary, and an infinity of revelations, but she was, in fact, nothing but a libertine woman.
Another Beata, who was more celebrated, appeared before the tribunal of Valladolid, she was called Louisa de l'Ascension. M. Lavellée has spoken of the fragments of the cross which had belonged to this woman, in his history of the Inquisition, published at Paris in 1809. This author (who has only added to the errors of the writers of the two last centuries) says, that this cross was one of those which the inquisitors suspended round the necks of the condemned. This practice was never known in the Inquisition; the cross belonged to the Beata. M. Lavellée has not explained the inscription correctly. I have seen a cross entire; on the upper part are the letters I. N. R. I., which are the initials of Jesus Nazarenius Rex Judæorum; on the mounting and on the arm, and towards the foot, are these words—Jesus. La Très Sainte Marie, conçue sans péché originel. Sœur Louise de l'Ascension, esclave indigne de mon très doux Jesus. Jesus. Maria santissima concibida sin pecado original. Indigna soror Luisa de la Ascencion, esclava de dulcisimo Jesus. This Beata gave similar crosses to those who, deceived by her reputation for sanctity, came to demand her prayers. This cross being once given, the wish to possess them became so general, that they were engraved and became the occasion and the subject of a trial: the Inquisition caused all that could be found to be remitted to them, and thus several were to be seen at Madrid and Valladolid.
Louisa de l'Ascension must not be confounded with the hypocrites and false devotees, such as Mary de la Conception, Lorenza de Simancas, Magdalena de la Croix, and some others, who were vicious women. The constant virtue of Louisa was acknowledged by the nuns of St. Clara de Carrion, and by the inhabitants of that place and of the country.
On the 23rd of January, 1639, there was a general auto-da-fé at Lima in Peru, in which seventy-two persons appeared. Eleven persons were burnt, and one effigy. In this auto-da-fé were seen, on elevated seats, six persons who had been accused by false witnesses.
The cities of Toledo, Cuença, Grenada, and Seville, also celebrated autos-da-fé in 1651, 1654, and 1660, when many persons were burnt.
Besides the public autos-da-fé and trials mentioned in the Chapters 24, 25, and 26, several others worthy of notice took place in the reign of Philip IV. Don Rodrigo Calderona, Marquis de Siete Inglesias, secretary to Philip III., was prosecuted by the Inquisition, which had not time to condemn him, because he was beheaded at Madrid in 1621, according to the sentence of the royal judges. The inquisitors accused him of having bewitched the king, in order to gain his favour. This charge was also brought against him by the fiscal of the civil tribunal of Madrid, but the judges paid no attention to it. It is certain that Calderona was the victim of a court intrigue, and the Count Duke de Olivares did an irreparable injury to his memory, in coldly witnessing the execution of a man, who, during his favour, had rendered him great services.
Don Fray Louis Aliaga, archimandrite of Sicily, confessor to Philip III., and inquisitor-general, resigned his place by the command of Philip IV.; and a short time after Cardinal Zapata had succeeded him, he was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Madrid, for some propositions suspected of Lutheranism and materialism. Aliaga died in 1626, when his trial had not advanced further than the preparatory instruction.
In the year 1645, the Inquisition of Madrid prosecuted Don Gaspard de Guzman, Count Duke de Olivares, favourite and prime-minister to Philip IV. This took place under the ministry of the inquisitor-general, Don Diego de Arce, on whom he had bestowed the bishoprics of Tui, Avila, and Placencia. Don Diego did not forget his benefactor, and it was to his prudence that the duke owed the favourable issue of an affair, which, in other hands, might have had the most fatal result.
This minister was disgraced in 1643: a short time after, memorials were presented to the king, accusing him of the most heinous crimes. The tribunal, where every false report was received, also seized this opportunity to prosecute him; he was denounced to the Inquisition as a believer in judicial astrology; and as a proof that he was an enemy to the church, it was asserted that he attempted to poison Urban VIII.; the apothecary at Florence, who prepared the poison, and the Italian monk, who was to administer it, were mentioned; in fact, proofs were offered of all the crimes he had committed. The inquisitors commenced the preparatory instruction, but their proceedings were so dilatory, that the Count Duke died before the order for his arrest could be issued.