And how dreadful the miseries of this prison are, we have a famous instance given us by Reginald Gonsalvius Montanus.[[247]] In the age before the last, a certain English ship put in at the port of Cadiz, which the familiars of the inquisition, according to custom, searched upon the account of religion, before they suffered any person to come ashore. They seized on several English persons who were on board, observing in them certain marks of evangelical piety, and of their having received the best instruction, and threw them into jail. In that ship there was a child, ten or twelve years, at most, old, the son of a very rich English gentleman, to whom, as was reported, the ship and principal part of her loading belonged. Amongst others, they took up also this child. The pretence was, that he had in his hands the psalms of David in English. But, as Gonsalvius tells us, those who knew their avarice and cursed arts, may well believe, without doing any injury to the holy inquisition, that they had got the scent of his father’s wealth, and that this was the true cause of the child’s imprisonment, and of all that calamity that followed after it. However, the ship with all its cargo was confiscated; and the child, with the other prisoners, were carried to the jail of the inquisition at Seville, where he lay six or eight months. Being kept in so strait confinement for so long a while, the child, who had been brought up tenderly at home, fell into a very dangerous illness, through the dampness of the prison, and the badness of his diet. When the lords inquisitors were informed of this, they ordered him to be taken out of the jail, and carried, for the recovery of his health, to the hospital, which they call the Cardinal. Here they generally bring all who happen to fall ill in the prison of the inquisition; where, besides the medicines, of which, according to the pious institution of the hospital, there is plenty, and a little better care, upon account of the distemper, nothing is abated of the severity of the former jail; no person besides the physician, and the servants of the hospital, being allowed to visit the sick person; and as soon as ever he begins to grow better, before he is fully recovered, he is put again into his former jail. The child, who had contracted a very grievous illness from that long and barbarous confinement, was carried into the hospital, where he lost the use of both his legs: nor was it ever known what became of him afterwards. In the mean while it was wonderful, that the child, in so tender an age, gave noble proofs how firmly the doctrine of piety was rooted in his mind; oftentimes, but especially morning and evening, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and praying to him, from whom he had been instructed by his parents, to desire and hope for certain help; which the jailkeeper having often observed, said, he was already grown a great little heretic.
About the same time[[248]] a certain person was taken up and thrown into the same jail, who had voluntarily abjured the Mahometan impiety, and came but a little before from Morocco, a famous city of Mauritania, and capital of the kingdom, into that part of Spain which lies directly over against it, with a design to turn Christian. When he had observed that the Christians were more vicious and corrupt than the Moors he had left, he happened to say, that the Mahometan law seemed to him better than the Christian. For this the good fathers of the faith laid hold of him, thrust him into jail, and used him so cruelly, that he said publicly, even when in confinement, that he never repented of his Christianity, from the day he was baptized, till after his having been in the inquisition, where he was forced against his will to behold all manner of violences and injuries whatsoever.
The complaint of Constantine, the preacher of Seville, was not less grievous concerning the barbarities of this prison;[[249]] who, although he had not as yet tasted of the tortures, yet often bewailed his misery in this jail, and cried out: “O my God, were there no Scythians in the world, no cannibals more fierce and cruel than Scythians, into whose hands thou couldst carry me, so that I might but escape the paws of these wretches?” Olmedus also, another person famous for piety and learning, fell into the inquisitors hands at Seville; and through the inhumanity of his treatment, which had also proved fatal to Constantine, contracted a grievous illness, and at last died in the midst of the nastiness and stench. He was used to say, “Throw me any where, O my God, so that I may but escape the hands of these wretches.”
The author of the History of Goa agrees in this account,[[250]] who frankly owns, that through the cruelty and length of his imprisonment he fell into despair, and thereby often attempted to destroy himself; first by starving himself; and because that did not succeed, he feigned himself sick; and when the physician of the inquisition found his pulse unequal, and that he was feverish, he ordered him to be let blood, which was done again five days after. When the doctor was gone, he unbound his arm every day, that so by the large effusion of blood, he might continually grow weaker and weaker. In the mean while he eat very little, that by hunger, and loss of blood, he might put an end to his miserable life. Whilst he was in this sad condition, he had sent him a confessor of the Franciscan order, who, by various arguments of comfort, endeavoured to recover him from his despair. They also gave him a companion in his jail, which was some comfort to him in his confinement. But growing well again after about five months, they took his companion from him. The lonesomeness of his jail brought on again his melancholy and despair, which made him invent another method to destroy himself. He had a piece of gold money, which he had concealed in his clothes, which he broke into two parts; and making it sharp, he opened with it a vein in each arm, and lost so much blood, that he fell into a swoon, the blood running about the jail. But some of the servants happening to come before the usual time to bring him something, found him in this condition. The inquisitor hereupon ordered him to be loaded with irons upon his arms and hands, and strictly watched. This cruelty provoked him to that degree, that he endeavoured to beat his brains out against the pavement and the walls; and undoubtedly the ligaments upon his arms would have been torn off, had he continued any longer in that state. Upon this they took off his chains, gave him good words, encouraged him, and sent him a companion, by whose conversation he was refreshed, and bore his misery with a little more easiness of mind. But after two months they took him from him again, so that the solitude of his jail was more distressing to him than before.
The prisoners,[[251]] as soon as ever they are thrown into jail, are commanded to give an account of their name and business. Then they inquire after their wealth; and to induce them to give in an exact account, the inquisition promises them, that if they are innocent, all that they discover to them shall be faithfully kept for, and restored to them; but that if they conceal any thing, it shall be confiscated, though they should be found not guilty. And as in Spain and Portugal most persons are fully persuaded of the sanctity and sincerity of this tribunal, they willingly discover all their possessions, even the most concealed things of their houses, being certainly persuaded, that when their innocence shall appear, they shall soon recover their liberty and effects together. But these miserable creatures are deceived; for he that once falls into the hands of these judges, is stripped at once of all he was possessed of. For if any one denies his crime, and is convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, he is condemned as a negative convict, and all his effects confiscated. If to escape the jail he confesses his crime, he is guilty by his own confession, and in the judgment of all justly stripped of his effects. When he is dismissed from prison as a convert and penitent, he dares not defend his innocence, unless he desires to be thrown again into jail, and condemned; and, as a feigned penitent, to be delivered over to the secular arm.
When the prisoner is brought before his judge,[[252]] he appears with his head and arms, and feet naked. In this condition he is brought out of jail by the warder. When he comes to the room of audience, the warder goes a little forward, and makes a profound reverence, then withdraws, and the prisoner enters by himself. At the farther end of the audience room there is placed a crucifix, that reaches almost to the ceiling. In the middle of the hall is a table about five feet long, and four broad, with seats all placed round it. At one end of the table, that which is next to the crucifix, sits the notary of the inquisition; at the other end the inquisitor, and at his left hand the prisoner sitting upon a bench. Upon the table is a missal, upon which the prisoner is commanded to lay his hand, and to swear that he will speak the truth, and keep every thing secret. After they have sufficiently interrogated him, the inquisitors ring a bell for the warder, who is commanded to carry back his prisoner to jail.
No one in the prison must so much as mutter, or make any noise, but must keep profound silence. If any one bemoans himself, or bewails his misfortune, or prays to God with an audible voice, or sings a psalm or sacred hymn, the jail-keepers, who continually watch in the porches, and can hear even the least sound, immediately come to him, and admonish him that silence must be preserved in this house. If the prisoner doth not obey, the keepers admonish him again. If after this the prisoner persists, the keeper opens the door, and prevents his noise, by severely beating him with a stick; not only to chastise him, but to deter others, who, because the cells are contiguous, and deep silence is kept, can very easily hear the outcries and sound of the blows. I will add here a short story that I had from several persons; which, if true, shews us with what severity they keep this silence. A prisoner in the inquisition coughed. The jailors came to him, and admonished him to forbear coughing, because it was unlawful to make any noise in that house. He answered, it was not in his power. However, they admonished him a second time to forbear it; and because he did not, they stripped him naked, and cruelly beat him. This increased his cough; for which they beat him so often, that at last he died through the pain and anguish of the stripes.
They insist so severely on keeping this silence, that they may cut off every degree of comfort from the afflicted; and especially for this reason, that the prisoners may not know one another, either by singing, or any loud voice. For it oftentimes happens, that after two or three years confinement in the jail of the inquisition, a man doth not know that his friend, nor a father that his children and wife are in the same prison, till they all see each other in the act of faith. And finally, that the prisoners in the several cells may not talk with one another; which, if ever found out, their cells are immediately changed.
If any one falls ill in the prison, they send to him a surgeon and physician, who administer all proper remedies to him to recover him to health. If there be any danger of his dying, they send him a confessor, if he desires it. If the criminal doth not ask for a confessor, and the physician believes the distemper to be dangerous, he must be persuaded by all means to confess; and if he judicially satisfies the inquisitors, he is to be reconciled to the church before he dies; and being absolved in judgment, the confessor must absolve him sacramentally.
If he is well, and desires a confessor, some are of opinion he may not have one granted him, unless he hath confessed judicially. Others think he may; and in this case the confessor’s business is to exhort him to confess his errors, and to declare the whole truth, as well of himself as of others, as he is bound de jure to do. However, he must add, that he must not accuse himself or others falsely, through weariness of his imprisonment, the hope of a more speedy deliverance, or fear of torments. Such a criminal the confessor cannot absolve, before his excommunication is first taken off, and he is reconciled to the church. But in Italy the prisoners are more easily allowed a confessor than in Spain.