Valdes had inserted in his catalogue some books which had not only been considered catholic, but were in the hands of everybody and full of true piety, particularly some works of Don Hernand de Talavera, the venerable Juan d'Avila, Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, Archbishop of Toledo; Hernand de Villegas, Louis de Granada, a Dominican; and St. Francis Borgia.
The catalogue of Valdes contained other general prohibitions. This proscription included all Hebrew books, and those in other tongues which treated of the Jewish customs; those of the Arabs, or those which in any way treated of the Mahometan religion; all works composed or translated by an heretic, or a person condemned by the holy office; all treatises in the Spanish language with a preface, letter, prologue, summary, notes, additions, paraphrase, explanation, glossary, or writing of that nature added by an heretic; all sermons, writings, letters, discourses on the Christian religion, its mysteries, sacraments, or the Holy Scriptures, if these works were inedited manuscripts.
Lastly, the same prohibition was extended to a multitude of translations of the Bible, and other books which had been written by men of great piety, and had always been considered at proper guides to virtue: of this number were the works of Denis, the Carthusian; the author known by the same of the Idiot; the Bishop Roffense, and many other writers.
In the eighteenth session of the Council of Trent (which began on the 26th February, 1562), the bishops found that it was necessary to examine the books which were denounced as suspicions, on account of the complaints which had been made on the prohibition of the great number of works which had been unjustly enrolled in the decree of Paul IV. The council appointed commissioners to examine them, and they made a report of their labour in the last session in 1563: they had drawn up a catalogue of the works which they considered necessary to be prohibited. It was submitted to Pius V., who published it in 1564, with ten general rules for the solution of any difficulties which might be discovered. A great number of books, which had been unjustly condemned by Valdes, were omitted in this index, and the Catechism of Carranza was declared to be orthodox by an assembly of theologians who had been appointed to examine it.
In 1565 the Doctor Gonzales Illescas published the first part of his Pontifical History. It was immediately seized by the holy office, and the second part, printed at Valladolid in 1567, shared the same fate. A short time after, Illescas was persecuted by the inquisitors of Valladolid; and, to preserve himself from becoming their victim, was obliged to suppress his work and write another, omitting the articles against some of the popes: this work appeared in 1574. Although the holy office had so carefully suppressed the first edition, it was inserted in the index of 1583, as if some copies had been still in existence.
In 1567 the council commanded the theological works of Brother John Fero, a Franciscan of Italy, to be seized, with the notes and corrections of Brother Michael de Medina, and some other works of the same author, who ended his days in the dungeons of the Inquisition in 1578, before his sentence had been pronounced. After his death, his Apology for John Fero was inserted in the expurgatory index.
In 1568 the Supreme Council charged the officers of the Inquisition to watch the frontiers of Guipuscoa, Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia, with the greatest vigilance, to prevent the introduction of prohibited books. This resolution was adopted, because information had been received that a great number of Lutheran books in the Castilian tongue were packed and sent in hogsheads of the wines of Champagne and Burgundy, with so much art, that the officers of the customs could not discover the deception.
In 1570 the council prohibited a work on the Pentateuch by Brother Jerome de Holcastro; and the Petit Office, printed at Paris in 1556. The motive for this suppression was singular: the frontispiece was decorated with a cross and a swan, with the motto, "IN HOC CIGNO VINCES." It is plain that the Petit Office was prohibited, because a C was used instead of the S in the word signo. The same severity was shewn in all cases where the books had this symbol, or any allegories of that nature.
In 1571 the inquisitors caused a Spanish Bible, printed at Baste, to be seized, and Philip II. wrote to the Duke of Alva, the governor of the Low Countries, to compose an index for the use of the Flemish people, with the assistance of the learned Arias Montanus. He presided in an assembly of theologians, who judged that the new index should only consist of the Latin prohibited by the Inquisition, or which it was necessary to correct. This measure was applied only to some well-known authors who were dead, and to some others, still living; but more particularly to the works of Erasmus, and with circumstances which might lead to the supposition, that his books were the principal objects of the prohibition, and that of the other authors merely a pretext to conceal the injury done to him. This catalogue was printed at Antwerp in 1571, with a preface by Arias Montanus, a royal decree and a proclamation of the Duke of Alva enforcing the execution of it. This list is known by the name of the Expurgatory Index of the Duke of Alva. The holy office had no part in this affair, as the Flemings had refused to recognise their authority.
In 1582 the inquisitor-general, Don Gaspard de Quiroga, published a new Prohibitory Index. It is remarkable that the Index of his predecessor Valdes is mentioned in this list.