Charles V. had sworn at Saragossa, in 1518, to respect the privileges and customs of the Aragonese, particularly the resolutions of the Cortes at Saragossa, Tarazona, and Monzon, and consequently that he would not suffer the inquisitors to commence any trials for usury.
But a new assembly of the Cortes having been convoked at Saragossa, towards the end of the year 1518, the deputies of Aragon represented to the king, that the agreement of the Cortes at Monzon, in 1512, was not sufficient to remedy the abuses which the inquisitors had introduced; they therefore entreated his Majesty to add to it thirty-one articles which they had adopted. These articles differed little from those of the Cortes of Castile.
The king, after having consulted his council, replied, "that it was his pleasure that the holy canons, and the decrees of the holy see, should be conformed to in regard to all the articles which had been presented to him. That if difficulties or doubts should occur, which required explanation, they should apply to the Pope; that if any person wished to accuse an inquisitor of abuse in the exercise of his office, he might do so by applying to the inquisitor-general, who would pronounce sentence according to equity; and that the king would cause them to be punished as an example; that he engaged by oath to observe himself, and cause others to observe, the order and declaration which he addressed to the assembly, as well as the articles which the Pope might add to those of the Cortes; that he also promised, upon oath, never to demand a dispensation from his promise; and that if one was addressed to him he would never make use of it, as he at that time renounced all the rights which might arise from it."
This reply induced the Cortes to believe that the king had granted all their requests; they considered that the trials would be there conducted as before other ecclesiastical tribunals. Persuaded that this was the king's intention, the Cortes resolved to show their gratitude by a voluntary contribution of money.
Some time elapsed before the agreement was approved by the Pope. The Emperor wrote the following letter from Cologne, in 1520, to his ambassador at Rome:—"In regard to the transactions of the Cortes, it will be sufficient if his Holiness will approve an act sent to Don Louiz Carroz, and afterwards to Don Jerome Vich, which is written by the hand of the venerable Cardinal of Tortosa, and that of the great chancellor, without any extension or interpretation, as I have often demanded earnestly."
The Aragonese, who did not even believe it possible to obtain this last point, entreated the inquisitor-general to command the inquisitors of Saragossa to conform immediately to the regulations of the agreement, without waiting for the confirmation of the Pope, because almost all the articles were the same as those in the convention of 1512, which the Pope had approved.
Cardinal Adrian complied with the request, and wrote to the inquisitors. They replied, that they thought themselves obliged to take the orders of the king before they obeyed him. Charles addressed an ordinance to them, in which he commanded them to execute all that he had promised and sworn in the preceding year.
At last the Pope confirmed the resolutions by a bull, which was proclaimed with great solemnity. However, it soon appeared that this publication would have no effect, because the promise of the king was, that the canons and apostolical ordinances should be strictly observed in regard to the articles; and in conforming to this they only executed the bull of 1515.
On the 21st of January, 1521, the Emperor ordered the secretary of the Cortes to be set at liberty; for although the inquisitor-general, in 1520, had decreed that he should be relaxed, and the prisoner had been informed of it, yet he refused to quit the prison, affirming that the decree which set him at liberty, tended more to make him appear guilty than innocent, by the use of the word relaxed.
Similar debates took place in Catalonia, where the king convoked a Cortes at Barcelona, in 1519, to take the oath of maintaining the privileges of the province. The Catalans, informed of the effect produced by the representations of the Cortes of Aragon, likewise demanded a reform of several abuses of their Inquisition relative to the taxes, as well as usury, bigamy, and other crimes of that class. The king, after having heard their remonstrances, made nearly the same reply as to the Cortes of Saragossa, and wrote to the Pope to demand a ratification of the articles. The Pope approved them in a bull in 1520; but Charles did not wait for its arrival to enforce the execution of his promise, which is proved by his order to Don Diego de Mendoza, his lieutenant-general in Catalonia. Yet he declares in his letter to his lieutenant, that he only made these promises on account of the importunities of some representatives of towns, and some men who were among the members of the Cortes.