THE new inquisitor-general was scarcely in possession of his office, when he began to establish regulations to increase the activity of the Inquisition. In 1500 he published a constitution in seven articles; and in 1504 four new articles relative to the confiscations.
To prove his zeal, Deza proposed to Ferdinand that the Inquisition should be introduced into Sicily and Naples in its present form, and that it should be under the authority of the Spanish inquisitor-general, instead of being dependent on the Court of Rome. The king undertook to introduce it into Sicily by a decree in 1500; but the inhabitants made great resistance, and he was obliged to pursue the plan which had succeeded in Aragon, by commanding the viceroy and other magistrates to assist the inquisitors. Several seditions were quelled before the sub-delegated inquisitor-general, Don Pedro Velorad, Archbishop of Messina, could enter upon his office.
In 1516 the Sicilians, weary of the proceedings of the Inquisition, revolted and set all the prisoners at liberty. Melchior de Cervera, the inquisitor, only escaped death by a concurrence of extraordinary circumstances; the viceroy was also in the greatest danger. The islanders were thus freed from the yoke of this detested tribunal; but they did not long enjoy liberty, for they were not able to resist the power of Charles V., who obliged them to receive it a second time. Naples was more fortunate. Ferdinand, in 1504, commanded the viceroy, Gonzales Fernandez de Cordova, surnamed the Great Captain, to assist the Archbishop of Messina with all his power, in establishing the Inquisition; but the Neapolitans opposed it so obstinately, that the viceroy judged it prudent to desist, and informed the king that it would be extremely dangerous to combat so decided a resistance.
In 1510 Ferdinand again attempted to introduce the new Inquisition; but his efforts were unavailing, and he was obliged to declare that he would be satisfied if the Neapolitans would banish all the New Christians who had taken refuge in their towns when they were driven from Spain.
Deza persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella to introduce the Inquisition into the kingdom of Grenada, although a promise to the contrary had been made to the baptized Moors. The queen rejected the proposition, but granted one that differed little from it, namely, that the jurisdiction of the inquisitors of Cordova should extend over Grenada, but permitting them to prosecute only in cases of actual apostasy. From that period the Moors have been known in history by the name of Morescoes.
The principal inquisitor of Cordova was Don Diego de Lucero; the severity of his character caused great misery throughout the kingdom of Cordova.
The moderation and exhortations of Ximenez de Cisneros, Archbishop of Toledo, and Don Ferdinand de Talavera, had converted more than 50,000 Moors, and the conversions would have been still more numerous, if some priests had not treated the Moors with severity, and excited a general revolt.
In 1501 the sovereigns declared in an edict, that by the grace of God, there were no infidels in the kingdom of Grenada, and to render the conversions more secure, they forbade any Moors to enter the territory; they also prohibited the slaves of that nation from holding any communication with others, that their conversion might not be retarded, or with those who had been baptized, as they might induce them to apostatize. All who did not conform to these laws incurred the punishment of death.
In February, 1502, Ferdinand and Isabella commanded all the free Moors of both sexes, above fourteen and twelve years of age, to quit the kingdom of Spain before the month of May following: they were allowed to sell their goods as the Jews had been; but were prohibited from going to Africa, which was then at war with Spain. The states of the Grand Seignior and other countries were assigned to them as places of refuge: as several baptized Moors sold their property and went to Africa, a royal ordinance was published, importing that, for the space of two years, no person could sell his property, or leave the kingdom of Castile, except to go into Aragon or Portugal, without a permission, which would only be granted to those who gave a security for their return when they had terminated their affairs.
Deza was not contented with exciting the zeal of Ferdinand and Isabella against the Moors; he also proposed measures against the Jews on the occasion of the arrival of different strangers in Spain, but who were not of those expelled in 1492. He obtained a royal ordinance in 1499, which applied those measures to them which had been established against the first Jews. The council of the Inquisition had already decreed that the converted Jews should be obliged to prove their baptism, and that they lived with the other Christians; that those who had been rabbins or masters of the law should be obliged to change the place of their residence; that they should appear every Sunday and on festival days in the churches, and be carefully instructed in the christian doctrine. Ferdinand permitted the inquisitors of Aragon to take cognizance of usury and other crimes foreign to their jurisdiction, contrary to the oath which he had taken to observe the laws of that kingdom, which ordained that they should be punished by the secular judge.