638 



SPAIN. 



right to inflict upon crimes. It is, however, due to the Spaniards to say, that, though bigoted 

 CO a great degree, they resisted the introduction of the inquisition. They murdered the Do- 

 minicans, stoned the inquisitors, and stabbed them at the foot of the altars. There were such 

 tumuhs, that the whole power of the church and authority of the king were barely sufficient to 

 restrain them. After Castile was united with Arragon, by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isa- 

 bella, the modern inquisition was established over Spain, from the year 1481. The king was 

 a bigot, but in this he had not even the excuse of bigotry ; he thirsted for the property 

 of the Jews. It was a successful, and to him not an objectionable, way of filling the treas- 

 ury. The gentle and good Isabella, the friend of Columbus, the protector of the Indians, 

 refused to permit the inquisition to be established in Castile ; but her confessor, Torquemada, 

 overcame her scruples. The first destruction scattered by this infernal engine was among the 

 Jews. A hundred thousand families emigrated, many professed Christianity, and almost all the 

 new Christians began to emigrate to the lands of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, Marquis of Ca- 

 diz, and other noblemen. Torquemada, however, the head of the inquisition, was too thirsty 

 for blood, to let them so easily escape ; and it was declared, by proclamation of the holy 

 office, that emigration should be held as sufficient proof of heresy. The proclamation ordered 

 the noblemen before named to arrest the flying, and sequester their goods. The prisoners 

 were more than the numerous convents could contain. Four days after the establishment of 

 the inquisition in Spain, six of the condemned were burned, and ten more in a few days. 



In less than six months, 293 of these unfortunates were burnt at the stake in the single city 

 of Seville. During the same time, more than 2,000 of the condemned were delivered to the 

 flames in other parts of the province. Among these were, of course, many persons of great 

 wealth, and their riches only led them into danger. The prefect of Seville, to save time in 

 the numerous executions, erected without the city a scaffolding of stone, on which were raised 

 four hollow statues of plaster. In these, the newly relapsed Christians were slowly burned. 

 This scaffold was extant until the revolution of 1820. 



Among the articles or laws of the inquisition, one decreed, that voluntary confessions 

 should be written down in the presence of the inquisitors ; this enabled them to compel the 

 confessor to denounce others whom he might suspect of heresy ; and thus this act of grace 

 became an act of accusation. Another law made it necessary to ascertain the time of falling 

 or relapsing into heresy, that it might be known what portion of goods belonged to the treasury. 

 Many of course lost the dowry of their wives, when these were paid after the heresy of their 

 fathers-in-law. The inquisitors were empowered to condemn all who had been reconciled, 

 provided their repentance seemed pretended, so that life depended on opinion. Half proof 

 subjected a man to the trial ; If, under torture, he confessed, and afterwards confirmed his con- 

 fession, he was condemned ; if he retracted, he was subjected to a second torture. An entire 

 copy of the testimony was never given to those accused. All persons summoned, and failing 

 to appear, were condemned. The conduct of a deceased person was examined, and when a 

 posthumous conviction followed, the bones were dug up and burned, and the whole estate con 

 fiscated in the hands of the heirs. For a relapsed heretic, no promises of faith were sufficient. 

 The inquisition never pardoned him ; and the only mercy allowed was to strangle him before he 

 was burned. Many of these regulations were made to gratify the grasping disposition of the king, 

 and the king, in return, was willing to barter his subjects' lives to the monks. The accused 

 never s;uv those who testified against him. There was the mockery of a counsel allowed, yet 

 he was not permitted to be seen alone, or to speak but to confess. Besides, what counsellor 

 would dare defend a prisoner in the inquisition ? Suspicion was divided into three classes ; 

 and the prisoners were registered as lightly suspected, strongly suspected, and violently sus- 

 pected. The light suspicion subjected its object to stand upon a scaffold with his head un- 

 covered, to walk in the procession en chemise^ with bare feet and crossed arms, to be scourged 

 by the bishop or curate, to be stationed at the church gate till reconciled, and to carry on his 

 right breast two crosses of a color different from that of his dress. This penance lasted 3 

 years for the first class, .5 for the second, and 7 for the third. 



The proceedings In these courts had little delay, though there were many long imprison • 

 ments ; when there was any process, it was a summarj^ one. In one year, the inquisition of 

 Toledo finished 3,327 trials. There were but two Inquisitors and two registers to perform 

 this lal)or. When the tribunal had become well established, it had its spies all over Spain. 

 There was no safety, either in heresy or faith ; to have an enemy, or to have wealth, was dan- 

 ger :us to the best citizen and the most faithful Catholic. It was the reign of terror and sus- 



