Although the inquisitors of Spain pretended that their authority was canonical and spiritual, and had been delegated to them by the sovereign pontiff, who is infallible when he pronounces ex cathedrâ, yet they always opposed this infallibility in fact, and refused to submit to his decrees, when contrary to their particular system. The inquisitors would have acted differently, if they had not been certain that by applying to the king and interesting his policy, they would force the royal authority to take a part in their quarrels, and oppose the measures of the pontiff, who, if they had not possessed that powerful support, would have treated them as rebels, and degraded them to the rank of simple priests by depriving them of their employments.
History of the Viceroys of Sicily and Catalonia.
In 1535, Charles V. had deprived the Inquisition of the right of exercising the royal jurisdiction, and it was not restored to them till 1545; consequently, in 1543, they had not the privilege of trying their officers, familiars, or other secular attendants of the holy office, for matters not relating to religion. This royal decree was known to the Captain-general of Catalonia, Don Pedro Cardona, when he commenced proceedings against the gaoler, a familiar and a servant of the grand-serjeant of the Inquisition of Barcelona, for carrying arms, which was prohibited in his government.
The inquisitors of Barcelona had become insolent, from having always prevailed in affairs of this nature, and they instituted proceedings against Don Pedro Cardona, as a rebel against the holy office; without respecting his high situations of captain-general, and military governor of the province, or the rank and name of his illustrious family. Being informed that the emperor was only nine leagues from Barcelona, they denounced the act of his lieutenant to him, and represented, through Cardinal Tabera, that if Cardona was not condemned to make a public reparation, the people would lose all respect for the Inquisition, and an incalculable injury be done to the Catholic religion throughout the kingdom.
The emperor, blinded by fanaticism, not only favoured the inquisitors against all justice, and in contempt of his own ordinance of 1535; but he wrote to Cardona, that the interests of the faith required that he should submit to receive the absolution ad cautelam. This order deeply afflicted Don Pedro, but he resolved to obey his master, and demanded absolution. The inquisitors, to render their triumph greater, celebrated an auto-da-fé, in the cathedral of Barcelona, where Cardona was compelled to attend, standing without a sword, and with a taper in his hand, during the celebration of mass, and the ceremony of his absolution.
Charles V. had also deprived the Inquisition of Sicily of the royal jurisdiction, for the space of five years, and afterwards prolonged it to ten; but the inquisitors represented, through Cardinal Tabera, that the inconveniences arising from this measure were so great, that Don Ferdinand Gonzaga, Prince de Malfeta, the viceroy and captain-general of the island, was informed that the suspension was to be revoked at the expiration of the tenth year, without a particular order. The Marquis de Terranova had been viceroy and governor-general; he was constable and admiral of Naples, a grandee of Spain of the first class, and related to the emperor through the house of Aragon. Two familiars of the Inquisition had been taken before the civil tribunal, by his orders, for some crimes which they had committed. Philip of Austria, Prince of Asturias, the eldest son of Charles V., then aged sixteen, governed the Spanish dominions during the absence of his father; and as he was not less superstitious, his conduct towards the Marquis de Terranova was the same as that of the emperor to Don Pedro Cardona. I consider it necessary to give the letter of the Prince to the Marquis de Terranova; it was as follows:—
"I, the Prince, Honourable marquis, admiral and constable, our dear counsellor: you know what happened when you commanded two familiars of the holy office to be whipped (while you were governor of this kingdom, and not well informed of the affair). So great a contempt for that holy tribunal has been the result, that it has been impossible for it to command anything with the success which it formerly obtained. On the contrary, several persons of this kingdom have presumed to insult and use violence towards the officers of the Inquisition, and to prevent and disturb them in the exercise of their office, according to the complaints and informations which we have received on this affair. The reverend Cardinal of Toledo, inquisitor-general, and the members of the council of the general Inquisition, have deliberated with his majesty, and it has been found proper and convenient that you should do penance for the fault you have committed; saying that it should be gentle and moderate, in consideration of the services you have rendered his majesty. In consequence, the inquisitor-general and the council, guided by their esteem for your person, have commanded the inquisitor Gongora to speak to you, and represent your fault, that you may accomplish the penance imposed, which (according to the nature of the fact, and the evil which has been the result) ought to have been much more severe, as you will learn from what the inquisitors have been commanded to say to you. As to the rest, this has only been decreed for the glory of God, the honour of the holy office, and the good of your conscience. We require and charge you, for the sake of the good example which you owe to others, to accept and accomplish this penance, with the submission which is due to the church, and without waiting to be compelled by means of excommunication and ecclesiastical censures; the submission which we ask of you will not affect your honour, but will be profitable to you in freeing you from all inquietude and vexation; it is approved by his majesty, will give us pleasure, and we undertake to treat you in all that concerns you with the favour that we have used towards you, and which we will show whenever there is an opportunity. Given at Valladolid, 15th December, 1543. I, the Prince." This letter is marked by several members of the council, and countersigned Juan Garcia, pro-secretary.
The silence which is observed on the nature of the penance imposed on the viceroy is remarkable; but whatever gentleness and moderation was affected, it was the same as that of Don Pedro Cordona. The only difference to be observed was, that it did not take place in the cathedral, but in the church of the Dominican convent; it was also thought necessary, by way of compensation, to prevent the Marquis from kneeling, except during the elevation of the host, that he might be more exposed to the sight of the people, and to condemn him to pay an hundred ducats to the familiars whom he had punished.
History of the False Nuncio of the Pope in Portugal.
The history of the quarrels of the Inquisition with the royal authority affords another conflict of jurisdiction. I speak of the affair of the famous Juan Perez de Saavedra mentioned in histories, romances, and dramatic pieces, under the name of the False Nuncio of Portugal, and who generally passes for the founder of the Inquisition in that kingdom. The critic Feijoo has supposed that the history of this affair was fabulous. The narration of Saavedra, which Feijoo quotes, contains fables, but it also contains truths belonging to the history of the Inquisition. It is necessary to enter into the details of this history: I shall first relate the facts according to the narrative which Saavedra wrote for the Cardinal Espinosa in 1567; I shall afterwards establish the truth on some points which that impostor contrived to obscure.