Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition 17

Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition 17

It is necessary, in view of the much that has been written, and

although the danger be incurred of labouring the point, to examine more

closely the attitude of the Sovereigns towards the tribunal which they

now sanctioned.

 

Isabella’s zeal, both pious and political, urged her, as has been said,

to proceed in such a way as should set a term to the unrest arising

out of the public feeling against Judaizers and apostatizing Moriscoes

(baptized Moors). Ferdinand not only shared her feelings, but pious

zeal in him went to the lengths of bigotry, and he aimed essentially at

a political unity that should be inseparably allied and interwoven with

religious unity.

 

Isabella would have laboured slowly, preferring, even at the sacrifice

of time, to achieve her ends by gentle means and the exercise of

that patience which was so very necessary if good results were to be

obtained. Ferdinand, perhaps less pitiful, perhaps--to do him full

justice--less hopeful of the power of argument and indoctrination,

lending an ear to the priestly assertion “contra negantes veritatis

nulla est disputatio,” would have proceeded at once to the introduction

into Castile of the stern repressive measures already being exerted in

his native Aragon.

 

On the score of their different attitudes the Sovereigns might have

found themselves in conflict, but that in this matter they had a ground

of common interest. Both were agreed that in no case should Spain be

brought under the ecclesiastical sway which the establishment of the

usual form of Inquisition must set up. If this were to be--as usual

hitherto--under pontifical control, its officers would be appointed

by the Pope, or, vicariously, by the Dominican provincials, and a

proportion of the confiscations consequent upon conviction would be

gathered into the pontifical coffers.

 

For all his bigotry and his desire to see the Holy Office instituted in

Castile, Ferdinand was as averse as Isabella to its introduction in a

form that must restore the clerical usurpations they had been at such

pains to repress.

 

If Isabella admitted the Inquisition as a last means of quelling the

disturbing elements in her kingdom, it must be an Inquisition on lines

entirely different from those which hitherto had obtained elsewhere.

The appointment of its officers must no more rest with the Pope than

the bestowal of Spanish benefices. It must be the prerogative of the

Sovereigns themselves, and it must carry with it the power to depose

and replace, where necessary, such inquisitors as they might appoint.

Further, Rome must have no share in the property confiscated from

Spanish subjects, the disposal of this being entirely controlled by

the Sovereigns.

 

It has been argued that here was the cause of all Isabella’s hesitancy:

that greed and statecraft were the mainsprings of her conduct in the

matter, and that humanitarian considerations had no part in it; that

the bull had been applied for earlier than has been generally supposed,

and that the delay had resulted from the Pope’s disinclination to grant

any such terms as were demanded.

 

The latter statement may not be without foundation. But to say

deliberately that no humanitarian considerations governed the Queen’s

conduct is to say a great deal more than the circumstances warrant.

To establish this hypothesis it would be necessary to advance some

adequate reason for her reluctance to act upon the bull when once it

was in her hands. For the bull of November 1478 conceded all that the

Sovereigns demanded, all that they desired. Yet Isabella allowed nearly

two years to pass before proceeding to exercise the faculties conferred

by it, and during that time Cardinal Mendoza and his co-operators

diligently pursued the work of effecting conversions by means of his

“catechism.”

 

The conclusion that this was dictated by humane considerations on the

part of the Queen is the only one that appears reasonable, nor is any

alternative put forward to account for the delay of nearly two years.

 

* * * * *

 

When the Cardinal of Spain and the Prior of Holy Cross, acting jointly

on behalf of the Sovereigns, appointed the first inquisitors for

Castile, they instructed these to set up a tribunal in Seville, which

of all the cities of Spain was the one where Judaizing was alleged to

be most flagrantly conducted.[63]

 

The Sovereigns issued on October 9 a command to all loyal subjects to

afford the two inquisitors every assistance they might require on their

journey to Seville and all facilities there for carrying out their

mission.

 

The subjects, however, were so little loyal on this occasion that upon

the arrival of the inquisitors at Seville, these found a reception of

all solemnity awaiting them and every respect accorded to them, but

no assistance. To such an extent was this withheld that they found it

quite impossible to set about the business upon which they came. They

complained of this state of things to the King, and as a result he sent

special orders on December 27 to the Coadjutor of Seville and the civil

authorities of the district, commanding them to lend the inquisitors

every support.

 

In consequence of this they were at last enabled to establish their

court and proceed to the business upon which they came.[64]

 

The very rumour of their approach had filled the New-Christians with

anxiety, and a glimpse of the gloomy funereal pageant--the white-robed,

black-hooded inquisitors, with their attendant familiars and barefoot

friars, the procession headed by a Dominican carrying the white

cross--on its way to the Convent of St. Paul, where they took up their

quarters, was enough to put to flight some thousands of those who had

cause to fear that they might become the objects of the attention of

that fearful court.

 

These fugitives sought refuge in the feudal lordships of the Duke of

Medina Sidonia, of the formidable Rodrigo Ponce de Leon, Marquis of

Cadiz, and of the Count of Arcos.

 

But in all ages it had been the way of the Inquisition not only to

suspect readily, but to allow suspicion to usurp the place that

elsewhere is reserved for proof. And so they proceeded to construe into

evidence of guilt this flight of the timorous, as is shown by the

edict they published on January 2 of 1481.

 

In this--having set forth their appointment by the Sovereigns, and the

terms of the bull under which such appointment had been made--they

announced that, inasmuch as it had come to their knowledge that many

persons had departed out of Seville in fear of prosecution upon

grounds of heretical pravity, they commanded the Marquess of Cadiz,

the Count of Arcos, and the other nobles of the Kingdom of Castile,

that within fifteen days of the publication of this edict they should

make an exact account of the persons of both sexes that had sought

refuge in their lordships or jurisdictions; that they should arrest

all these and bring them safely to the prison of the Inquisition in

Seville, confiscating their property and placing this together with an

inventory in the hands of some person of trust, to be held by them at

the disposal of the inquisitors; that none should dare to shelter any

fugitive, but comply exactly with the terms of this edict under pain

of greater excommunication and the other penalties by law established

against abettors of heretics, amongst which penalties was that of the

annulment of their dignities and offices, their subjects and vassals

being absolved of all vassalage and subjection; and the inquisitors

reserved to themselves and their superiors the power of absolution from

the ecclesiastical censure incurred by all who might fail to obey the

terms of this edict.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII

 

THE HOLY OFFICE IN SEVILLE

 

 

The stern purpose of the inquisitors and the severity with which they

intended to proceed were plainly revealed by that edict of January 2,

1481. The harsh injustice that lay in its call upon the authorities

to arrest men and women merely because they had departed from Seville

before departure was in any way forbidden is typical of the flagrantly

arbitrary methods of the Inquisition. That it should have struck terror

into the New-Christians who had remained in Seville, and that it should

have moved them to take measures to protect themselves against a court

in which justice seemed little likely to be observed, and to whose

cruel mercies the most innocent might find himself exposed at any

moment, is not surprising--particularly when it is considered how great

was the number of New-Christians who occupied positions of eminence in

Seville.

 

A group of these prominent citizens assembled at the invitation of

Diego de Susan, one of the wealthiest and most influential men of

Seville, whose fortune was estimated at ten million maravedis. They

came together to consider what measures should be taken for the defence

of themselves, their persons and property, from the unscrupulous

activities of this tribunal, and they determined that if necessary they

would resort to force.

 

Among those who entered into this conspiracy were some ecclesiastics,

and several who held office under the Crown, such as the Governor of

Triana, Juan Fernandez Abolafio, the Captain of Justice and farmer of

the royal customs, his brother Fernandez the licentiate, Bartolomé

Torralba, and the wealthy and well-connected Manuel Sauli.

 

Susan addressed them. He reminded them that they were the principal

citizens of Seville, that they were wealthy not only in property but

in the good-will of the people, and that it but required resolution

and solidarity on their part to enable them to prevail against the

inquisitors in the event of these friars making any attempt upon them.

 

All concurring, it was concerted that each of the conspirators should

engage himself to provide a proportion of the men, arms, and money and

what else might be necessary for their purpose.

 

But Susan to his undoing had a daughter. This girl, whose beauty was

so extraordinary that she was surnamed _la hermosa fembra_, had taken

a Castilian lover. What motives may have actuated her, what part the

lover may have played in these, does not transpire. All that is known

is that she betrayed the conspiracy to the inquisitors--“impiously

violating the natural laws engraved by God’s finger upon the human heart.”