The Inquisition revealed

by Thomas Timpson

On the occasion, a scaffold is erected large enough for two or three thousand persons; at one end of which are the prisoners, at the other the inquisitors. After a sermon, made of encomiums on the Inquisition, and invectives against heretics, a priest ascends a desk near the scaffold, and having taken the abjuration of the penitents, he recites the final sentence of those who are to be put to death, and delivers them to the secular arm, earnestly beseeching the authorities not to touch their blood, nor to put their lives in danger! The prisoners, being thus in the hands of the civil magistrate, are presently loaded with chains, and carried first to the secular gaol, and thence, in an hour or two, brought before the civil judge; who, after asking in what religion they intend to die, pronounces sentence on such as declare they die in the communion of the church of Rome, that they shall be first strangled, and then burnt to ashes! or such as die in any other faith, that they be burnt alive! Both are immediately carried to a place of execution, where there are as many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with fuel of dried furze. The stakes for the professed, or such as reject the Romish faith, are about four yards high, having a small board near the top for the prisoner to be seated on. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed mount their stakes by a ladder, and the Jesuits, after several repeated exhortations to be reconciled to the church, retire, telling them that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them to the flames of hell. On this, a great shout is raised, the cry being “Let the dogs’ beards be made;” that is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened on long poles, against their faces, till they are scorched, and every feature destroyed; and this is accompanied with the loudest exclamations of savage joy. At last, fire is set to the furze at the bottom of the stake, over which the victim is, chained so high that the flame can scarcely reach the seat, and the sufferer is thus made to endure a roasting. There cannot be a more lamentable spectacle; the sufferers cry out, as long as they are able, “Pity, for the love of God!” or such-like appeals for mercy and sympathy; yet it is beheld, by both sexes of the superstitious populace, with transports of joy and satisfaction, illustrating the genuine spirit of Popery.

ACT OF FAITH AT MADRID, A.D. 1680.

Spain and Portugal, more than any other countries, have been governed on the principles of Popery. To learn its true genius, we must look at the horrid ceremony of burning dissenters, under the designation of heretics. The following account relates to the act of faith celebrated in honour of Charles II., on the occasion of his public entry into Madrid, after his marriage, A.D. 1680.

Charles II., of Spain, was born A.D. 1662, and ascended the throne at nearly the age of four years, October 7, 1665. In February, 1680, he married Maria Louise of Orleans. This was publicly celebrated under the direction of the priesthood, with all possible magnificence at Madrid, and an act of faith by the Inquisition, May 3, 1680.

A month before the general execution, the officers of the Inquisition, preceded by their standard, rode with great solemnity from the palace of the Holy Office to the open square, where, in the presence of crowds of people, they proclaimed, by sound of trumpet and kettle-drums, that on that day month, an act of faith, or general execution of the heretics, would be exhibited. The proclamation being over, extensive preparations were made for the dreadful solemnities, under pretence that the horrid sacrifice was in honour of the blessed Jesus and his religion, the Gospel of peace. Previous to this bloody solemnity, a scaffold, fifty feet long, was erected in the great square, and raised to the same height, with a balcony upon it with seats for the king and queen and royal family. At the end, and along the sides, seats were placed, as an amphitheatre, in view of the king, for the council of the Inquisition. On one side, under a splendid canopy, a rostrum was elevated for the grand-inquisitor; and at the opposite side was an elevated platform, on which the prisoners were required to stand. In the centre of the scaffold were erected two enclosures, or cages, open at the top, enclosing the prisoners while sentence of death was pronounced on them. Three pulpits also were erected, two of which were for the use of those who read the sentence, and the third for the preacher; and, lastly, an altar was erected near the rostrum, where the several counsellors sat. The seats, on which their Catholic majesties sat, were ranged so that the queen was at the king’s left hand, and on the right the queen-mother. The rest of the whole scaffold was filled with the ladies of honour of both queens; balconies were likewise erected for the foreign ambassadors, and for the lords and ladies of the court, and scaffolds also for the people.

On the solemn day, a month after the proclamation, the ceremony opened in the following order. The march was preceded by a hundred coal-merchants, armed with pikes and muskets, indicating their being under obligation to furnish fuel for the burning of the criminals. These were followed by Dominican friars, before whom a white cross was carried. Behind them came the Duke of Mendini Celi, carrying the standard of the Inquisition, a privilege hereditary in his family. The standard was of red damask, on one side of which was represented a drawn sword in a crown of laurels, and the arms of Spain on the other. Then was brought forward a green cross, covered with black crape, which was followed by several grandees and other persons of quality, familiars of the Inquisition, wearing black cloaks, marked with black and white crosses, edged with gold wire. The march was closed by fifty halbardiers or guards, belonging to the Inquisition, clothed with black and white garments, and commanded by the Marquis of Ponar, hereditary protector of the Inquisition in the province of Toledo.

The procession having marched in this order before the palace, proceeded to the square, when the standard and the green cross were placed on the scaffold, where none but the Dominicans remained, the rest having retired. These Dominican friars had spent the night in chanting psalms, and several masses were celebrated on the altar from day-break until six in the morning. About an hour after, the king, the queen, and the queen-mother, with all the royal family, the lords, ladies and officers of the court, made their appearance, and at eight o’clock ascended the scaffold. The coal-merchants placed themselves on the left of the king’s balcony, and his guards stood on the right. Afterwards came thirty men carrying images of pasteboard, as large as life, some representing those who had died in prison, and whose bones were brought in chests, with flames painted on them, and the rest those who had escaped and were outlawed.

These figures were placed at one end of the amphitheatre, and then came twelve men and women with ropes about their necks, torches in their hands, and pasteboard caps on their heads, three feet high, on which were written their crimes. These were followed by fifty others, having also torches in their hands, and clothed with yellow great coats, on which were crosses of St. Andrew X., behind and before. These were Jews, who had repented of their crimes, and desired to be admitted into the church as believers in Jesus Christ. Next came twenty Jews of both sexes, who had relapsed thrice into their former errors, and were condemned to the flames. Those who had given some tokens of repentance were to be strangled before they were burnt; but the rest, for having persisted in their errors, were to be burnt alive. These last wore linen garments, with devils and flames painted on them, and caps after the same manner. Five or six among them, who were more obstinate than the rest, were gagged, to prevent their uttering what the Roman Catholics call blasphemous tenets.

Such as were condemned to die, were surrounded each by four Dominicans and two familiars of the Inquisition. These unhappy creatures passed, in the manner above related, under the king of Spain’s balcony, and after having walked round the scaffold, were placed in the amphitheatre that stood on the left, and each of them surrounded by the monks and familiars who had attended them. Some of the grandees of Spain were among these familiars, and they, consistently with their usual national pride, seated themselves on high benches erected for the purpose. The clergy of St. Martin’s parish, coming forward, placed themselves near the altar; the officers of the supreme council of the Inquisition, the inquisitor, and several other persons of distinction, both regulars and seculars, all on horseback, with great solemnity, arrived afterwards, and placed themselves on the right hand of the amphitheatre, and on both sides of the rostrum in which the grand-inquisitor was to seat himself. The grand-inquisitor came last, dressed in a purple habit, accompanied by the president of the council of Castile, and several other officers, who, on this occasion, would have been reckoned among the number of heretics, had they not become the more than obsequious slaves of the priests.

Then they began to celebrate mass; in the midst of which, the priest who officiated went down from the altar and seated himself in a chair, which had been placed for him. The grand-inquisitor came down from his seat, and having saluted the altar, and put the mitre on his head, he advanced towards the king’s balcony. Then he went up the steps that stood at the end of the balcony, with several officers, who carried the cross and Gospels, and a book containing the oath by which the kings of Spain obliged themselves to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and to support the holy Inquisition to the utmost of their power.