INQUISITION. 



provided there was sufficient evidence against them. 

 The bones of those who were condemned after death, 

 were dug up, and the property which they had left 

 reverted to the king. 



Torquemada died in 1 493, and was buried in the 

 Dominican convent at Avila, which had been built 

 with tin- property taken from heretics, and was a 

 mi in inn mi of his ciuel teal. He had resigned his 

 office two years before, being afflicted with the gout. 

 According to another account, Torquemada did not 

 retire so quietly from the stage. It is said that, 

 suspecting that Ferdinand ana Isabella, whom the 

 wars with the Moors had involved in great pecuniary 

 embarrassments, would be moved by the great 

 sums which were offered them, to limit the privileges 

 of the inquisition, and disturbed by this apprehension, 

 he went to the royal palace, with a crucifix under 

 his mantle. " I know your thoughts," said he boldly 

 to the sovereigns ; " behold the form of the crucified 

 one, whom the godless Judas sold to his enemies for 

 thirty pieces of silver. If you approve the act, yet 

 sell him dearer. I here lay down my office, and am 

 free from all responsibility; but you shall give an 

 account to God." He then laid down the cross, and 

 left llie palace. 



At first, the jurisdiction of the inquisition was not 

 accurately defined ; but it received a more regular 

 organization by the ordinance of 1484, establishing 

 brandies in the different provinces of Spain, under 

 the direction of the inquisitor-general. In later 

 times, the supreme tribunal was at Madrid. The 

 inquisitor general presided. Of the six or seven 

 councillors, whom he appointed on the nomination of 

 the king, one, according to an ordinance of Philip 

 III., must be a Dominican. He had a fiscal, two 

 secretaries, a receiver, two relators, and several 

 ojicialt, as they were called, who were appointed by 

 the grand inquisitor, in concurrence with the king. 

 The inquisitorial council assembled every day, except 

 on holidays, in the royal palace; on the last three 

 days of the week, two members of the council of 

 Castile were present at the meeting. It was the 

 duty of some of the officers (calificadores) to explain 

 whether any act or opinion was contrary to the doc- 

 trines of the church ; others were lawyers, who 

 merely had a deliberative voice. The sentence of 

 the inquisition was definitive. It was the duty of 

 the fiscal to examine the witnesses, to give informa- 

 tion of criminals, to demand their apprehension, and 

 to accuse them when seized. He was present at the 

 examination of the witnesses, at the torture, and at 

 the meeting of the judges, where the votes were 

 taken. It was the duty of the registers, besides the 

 preparation of the necessary papers, to observe the 

 accuser, the witnesses, and the accused, during their 

 legal examination, and to watch closely the slightest 

 motion by which their feelings might betray them- 

 selves. The officials were persons sent by the court 

 to arrest the accused. A secuestrador, who was 

 obliged to give sureties to the office, kept an account 

 of the confiscated property. The receiver took the 

 money which came from the sale of sequestrated 

 property, and paid the salaries and drafts on the trea- 

 sury. It is computed, that there were in Spain above 

 20,000 officers of the inquisition, called familiars, 

 who served as spies and informers. These places 

 were sought even by persons of rank, on account of 

 the great privileges connected with them. As soon 

 as an accuser appeared, and the fiscal had called 

 upon the court to exercise their authority, an order 

 was issued to seize the accused. In an ordinance of 

 1732, it was made the duty of all believers, to inform 

 the inquisition if they knew any one, living or dead, 

 present or absent, who had wandered from the faith, 

 who did observe or had observed the law of Moses, 



or even spoken favourably of it ; if they knew any 

 one, who followed or liad followed the doctrines ol 

 Luther ; any one who had concluded an alliance with 

 the devil, either expressly or virtually ; any one who 

 possessed any heretical book, or the Koran, or the 

 Bible in the Spanish tongue ; or, in fine, if they 

 knew any one who had harboured, received, or 

 favoured heretics. If the accused did not appear at 

 the third summons, he was excommunicated. 



From the moment that the prisoner was in the 

 power of the court, he was cut off from the world. 

 The prisons, called holy houses (casas santas), con- 

 sisted of vaulted apartments, each divided into sever- 

 al square cells, which were about ten feet high, and 

 stood in two rows, one over the other. In the upper 

 cells, a dim ray of light fell through a grate ; the 

 lower were smaller and darker. Each dungeon had 

 two doors. The inner, which was bound with iron, 

 had a grate, through which food was introduced for 

 the prisoner. The other door was opened, early in 

 the morning, to air the cell. The prisoner was 

 allowed no visits from his friends or relations ; no 

 book of devotion was given him ; he was compelled 

 to sit motionless and silent in his dark cell, and, if his 

 feelings found vent in a tone of complaint, or even in 

 a pious hymn, the ever-watchful keeper warned him 

 to be silent. Only one captive was usually placed in 

 each cell, unless for the purpose of making discove- 

 ries. At the first hearing, the accused was called 

 upon to confess his guilt. If he confessed the crime 

 of which lie was accused, he pronounced his own 

 sentence, and his property was confiscated. If he 

 declared himself innocent, contrary to the testimony 

 of the witnesses, he was threatened with torture. The 

 advocate who was appointed to defend him, could 

 not speak to him, except in the presence of the inqui- 

 sitors. The accused was not confronted with the 

 accuser nor the witnesses before the court, neither 

 were they made known to him ; and he was often 

 subjected to the torture, to extort a confession, or to 

 explain circumstances which had not been fully 

 explained by the witnesses. Those who escaped 

 death by repentance and confession, were obliged to 

 abjure their errors, and to swear to submit to all the 

 pains and penalties which the court ordered. Im- 

 prisonment, often for life, scourging, and the loss of 

 property, were the punishments to which the peni- 

 tent was subjected. He was made infamous, as well 

 as his children and grand-children. Wearing the 

 san-benito (the blessed vest of penitence, a sort 

 of coarse, yellow tunic, with a cross on the breast 

 and back, and painted over with devils) was a 

 common method of punishment. An accused per- 

 son, who was fortunate enough to escape before 

 the officers of the inquisition could seize him, was 

 treated as an obstinate heretic. Summonses were 

 posted up in all the public places, calling on him to 

 appear. If he did not do this within a certain time 

 and if the evidence of the witnesses proved tlu 

 charges, he was delivered over to the secular power, 

 and burnt in effigy. Persons who had been dead 

 more than forty years, were condemned, and, though 

 their children retained possession of the property 

 they had inherited, yet they were dishonoured, and 

 rendered incapable of holding any public office. 



When sentence of death was pronounced against 

 the accused, the holy auto da fe was ordered. This 

 usually took place on Sunday, between Trinity Sun- 

 day and Advent. At daybreak, the solemn sound 

 of the great bell of the cathedral called the faithful 

 to the dreadful spectacle. Men of high rank pressed 

 forward to offer their services in accompanying the 

 condemned, and grandees were often seen acting as 

 familiars to the inquisition. The condemned appeared 

 barefooted clothed in the dreadful son benito, with a 



