AN auto-da-fé was celebrated on the 24th of September, 1559, in the place of St. Francis, at Seville, not less remarkable for the rank of the condemned, than for the nature of their trials. Four bishops attended at it; the coadjutor of Seville, those of Largo and the Canaries, who happened to be in the city, and of Tarrazona, whom the king had authorized to reside at Seville as vice-inquisitor-general.
The inquisitors of the district of Seville were Don Michel del Carpio, Don Andres Gasco, and Don Francis Galdo; Don Juan de Obando represented the archbishop. I make this remark, to show that none of the judges were named Vargas, as the author of a romance entitled Cornelia Bororquia has asserted.
This auto-da-fé was celebrated before the royal court of justice, the chapter of the cathedral, some grandees of Spain, and a great number of titled persons and gentlemen; the Duchess of Bejar was present with several ladies, and an immense concourse of people. Twenty-one persons were relaxed, with an effigy of a contumacious person, and eighty persons condemned to penances, the greatest number of whom were Lutherans; I shall mention the most remarkable instances.
The effigy was that of Francis Zafra, the beneficed priest of the parish of St. Vincent of Seville, who was condemned as a Lutheran, but had made his escape. Gonzalez de Montes gives a long account of this man, which I found to be correct, on examining the papers of the holy office. He says that Francis Zafra was well versed in the Scriptures; for some time he succeeded in concealing his inclination to Lutheranism, and was employed by the inquisitors to qualify denounced propositions, and that he was thus enabled to save many persons from being condemned. He had received into his house one of the women called Beates, who (after obstinately supporting the new doctrines) became so much deranged, that he was obliged to confine and scourge her, to calm her violence. In 1555, this woman escaped, and denounced three hundred persons as Lutherans to the Inquisition: the inquisitors drew up a list of them; Francis Zafra was summoned, and although he was mentioned as one of the principal heretics, proved that they could not receive the evidence of a person whose mind was so much disordered [20]. As the holy office never neglected anything that could assist in discovering heresy, this list caused the conduct of many persons to be strictly observed, and more than eight hundred were arrested; Francis Zafra was one of the prisoners, but he contrived to escape, and was burnt in effigy as contumacious.
The first person I shall mention as condemned to relaxation, was Donna Isabella de Baena, a rich lady of Seville. Her house was razed to the ground for having served as a temple to the Lutherans.
I find, among the other victims at Seville, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, youngest son to the Count de Baylen; he was cousin-german to the Duke d’Arcos, and related to the Duchess de Bejar, who were both present at his auto-da-fé. He was condemned as an impenitent Lutheran: he at first denied the charges, but confessed during the torture: the inquisitors sent a priest, with whom he was well acquainted, to persuade him that it would be to his advantage if he confessed the truth. Ponce was deceived, and made the confession they required; but on discovering his mistake, the day before the auto-da-fé, he made one truly Lutheran, and treated the priest who attended him with contempt. Gonzalez de Montes pretends that he persisted in his sentiments, but he is mistaken, for Ponce confessed when he was fastened to the stake, and strangled before he was burnt.
Don Juan Gonzalez, a priest of Seville, and a celebrated preacher of Andalusia, embraced Mahometanism at twelve years of age, because his parents were Moors, but he was reconciled by the Inquisition. Some time after he was imprisoned as a Lutheran, but obstinately persisted in refusing to confess, even when tortured; affirming that his opinions were founded on the Holy Scriptures, and that, consequently, he could not be a heretic. This example was imitated by his two sisters, who suffered in the same auto-da-fé: When the gags were taken from their mouths, Don Juan told them to sing the 106th psalm. They died (say the Protestants) in the faith of Jesus Christ, and detesting the errors of the Papists.
Brother Garcia de Arias (surnamed the White Doctor, on account of the extreme whiteness of his hair) was a Jeronimite of the Convent of St. Isidore, at Seville; he was condemned as an impenitent Lutheran, and perished in the flames. He had professed the doctrines of Luther for several years, but his sentiments were known only to the principal partisans of the heresy, such as Vargas, Egidius, and Constantine: his prudence was so great, that he was looked upon as an orthodox theologian and of the greatest piety: he even carried his dissimulation so far as to profess to be an enemy to the Lutherans. He was several times employed to qualify heretical propositions, and appeared to be so devoted to the inquisitorial system, that though he was denounced several times, the inquisitors declared that the informers acted out of hatred to him. However, the informations were communicated to him, that he might be more cautious in his conversations with suspicious persons.
His conduct towards Gregorio Riuz ought to be recorded. Riuz was denounced for some explanations of doctrine in a sermon; being obliged to appear and defend his doctrine before theologians, he applied to his friend, the White Doctor, who wished to hear his exposition of the principles he intended for his defence, and the solutions he had prepared for the difficulties which he might meet with. When the assembly took place, the Inquisitors commissioned Arias to argue against Riuz, who was much surprised to see him at this conference, and still more so, when he heard him speak in such a manner, that the answers he had prepared were entirely useless. Riuz sunk under this attack, and the doctor Arias was severely reproached for his treachery by the Lutheran doctors, Vargas, Egidius, and Constantine.
Arias taught the Lutheran doctrine to some monks of his convent: one of them (Brother Cassiodorus) made so much progress in it, that he converted almost all the monks of the community, so that the monastic exercises were no longer practised. Twelve of these persons being alarmed at this state of things fled to Germany; the rest who remained at Seville, were condemned by the Inquisition. The same fate awaited Garcia d’Arias; the depositions against him continued to multiply, and he was at last arrested. Foreseeing the result of his trial, he made a confession of his faith, and undertook to prove, that the opinions of Luther were founded on the gospel. He persevered in his impenitence, and no Catholic could convert him, because he understood doctrine better than those who disputed with him.
Donna Maria de Virues, Donna Maria Cornel, and Donna Maria Bohorques, also perished in this auto-da-fé. They were all young, and of the highest class of nobility. The history of the last of these ladies ought to be made known, on account of some circumstances in her trial, and because a Spaniard has composed a novel under the title of Cornelia Bororquia, which he affirms to be rather a history than a romance, although it is neither the one nor the other, but a collection of scenes and events badly conceived, in which he has not even given the actors their true names, from not having understood the History of the Inquisition by Limborch. This historian has mentioned two of the ladies by the names of Cornelia and Bohorquia, which means Donna Maria Cornel, and Donna Maria Bohorquia. The Spanish author has united these names, to designate Cornelia Bororquia an imaginary person. He has supposed a love-intrigue between her and the inquisitor-general, which is absurd, since he was at Madrid. He has also introduced examinations which never took place in the tribunal; in short, the intention of the author was to criticise and ridicule the Inquisition, and the fear of being punished for it induced him to fly to Bayonne. A good cause becomes bad when falsehood is employed in its defence: the true history of the Inquisition is sufficient to show how much it merits the detestation of the human race, and it is therefore useless to employ fictions or satire. The same may be said of the Gusmanade, a French poem, containing assertions false and injurious to the memory of St. Dominic de Guzman, whose personal conduct was very pure, though he may be blamed for his conduct to the Albigenses.
Donna Maria de Bohorques, was the natural daughter of Pedro Garcia de Xerez Bohorques of one of the first families of Seville, and from which sprung the Marquises de Ruchena, grandees of the first class. She was not twenty-one years of age when she was arrested as a Lutheran. She had been instructed by the doctor, Juan Gil (or Egidius), was perfectly acquainted with the Latin language, and understood Greek; she had many Lutheran books, and had committed to memory the Gospels, and some of the principal works which explain the text in a Lutheran sense. She was conducted to the secret prisons, where she acknowledged her opinions, and defended them as Catholic. She said that some of the facts and propositions contained in the depositions were true, but denied the others, either because she had forgotten them, or was afraid to compromise others. She was then tortured, and confessed that her sister, Jane Bohorques, was acquainted with her sentiments, and had not disapproved them. The fatal consequences of this confession will be shown hereafter. The definitive sentence was pronounced, and Maria Bohorques was condemned to relaxation. As the sentence was not communicated to the prisoner till the day before the auto-da-fé, the inquisitors desired that Maria should be exhorted during the interval. Two Jesuits and two Dominicans were successively sent to her. They returned full of admiration at the learning of the prisoner, but displeased at her obstinacy, in explaining the texts of Scripture which they proposed, in a Lutheran sense. On the day before the auto-da-fé, two other Dominicans went with the first, to make a last effort to convert Maria, and they were followed by several other theologians of different religious orders. Maria received them with as much pleasure as politeness, but she told them, that they might spare themselves the trouble of speaking to her of their doctrines, as they could not be more concerned for her salvation than she was herself; that she would renounce her opinions if she felt the least uncertainty; but that she was still more convinced that she was right, since so many popish theologians had not been able to advance any arguments, for which she had not prepared a solid and conclusive answer. At the place of execution, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, who had abjured heresy, exhorted Maria to do the same. She received his advice very ill, and called him ignorant, an idiot, and a babbler: she added, that it was no longer a time to dispute, and that the few moments they had to live ought to be employed in meditating on the passion and death of their Redeemer, to reanimate the faith by which they were to be justified and saved. Although she was so obstinate, several priests, and a great number of monks, earnestly entreated that she might be spared, in consideration of her extreme youth and surprising merit, if she would consent to repeat the Credo. The inquisitors granted their request; but scarcely had Maria finished it, than she began to interpret the articles on the Catholic faith, and the judgment of the quick and the dead, according to the opinions of Luther: they did not give her time to conclude; the executioner strangled her, and she was afterwards burnt. Such is the true history of Maria Bohorques, according to the writings of the Inquisition.
Paul IV. died at Rome on the 18th of August, 1559, a few days before the auto-da-fé at Seville. When the Romans learnt this event, they went in crowds to the Inquisition, set all the prisoners at liberty, and burnt the house and the archives of the tribunal. It cost much money and trouble to prevent the enraged populace from burning the convent De la Sapienza of the Dominicans, who conducted all the affairs of the Roman Inquisition. The principal commissioner was wounded, and his house burnt. The statue of Paul IV. was taken from the capitol and destroyed; the arms of the house of Carafa were everywhere defaced, and even the mortal remains of the Pope would have been abused, if the Canons of the Vatican had not interred him secretly, and if the guards had not defended the pontifical residence [21]. This revolt of the Romans did not alarm the inquisitors of Spain, where the people had been brought up by the monks in different principles from those professed by their ancestors under the reign of Ferdinand, and the first ten years of that of Charles V.
The inquisitors of Seville, who had perhaps depended on the presence of Philip II., prepared another auto-da-fé for him similar to that of Valladolid. When they had lost all hope of that honour, the ceremony was performed: it took place on the 22nd of December, 1560. Fourteen individuals were burnt in person (i. e. relaxed), and three in effigy; thirty-four were subjected to penances, and the reconciliation of three other persons was read before the auto-da-fé. The effigies were those of the Doctors Egidius, Constantine, and Juan Perez.
Constantine Ponce de la Fuente was born at San Clemente de la Mancha, in the diocese of Cuença; he finished his studies at Alcala de Henares, with the Doctor Juan Gil, or Egidius; and with Vargas, who died during his trial. These three theologians were the principal chiefs of the Lutherans at Seville, whom they secretly directed, enjoying at the same time the reputation of good Catholics and virtuous priests. Egidius preached much in the metropolitan church; Constantine was less ardent in his zeal, but he obtained as much applause; Vargas explained the Scriptures in the pulpit of the municipality. Constantine refused the dignity of magisterial canon, which was offered to him both by the Chapter of Cuença and that of Toledo. Charles V. appointed him his almoner and preacher; in this quality he took him to Germany, where he made a long stay. On his return to Seville, he directed the College de la Doctrina, and there established a pulpit to preach the Holy Scriptures, of which he appointed the salary: he undertook to fill the office, and during this period the Canons’ corporation offered him the place of magisterial canon; exempting him from the usual competition. Some of the canons recollecting the unfortunate consequences of the election of Juan Gil (who was appointed in the same manner), wished that the competition should take place. Constantine was requested to submit to it, and assured that he would triumph over the competitors. This, in fact, took place in 1556, in opposition to the appeals and intrigues of the only person who had the courage to compete with him. While Constantine continued to enjoy general esteem, the declarations of a great number of prisoners who were arrested for Lutheranism, caused his arrest in 1558, some months before the death of Charles V. During the time that he was preparing his defence, an accident happened which rendered it useless.
Isabella Martinez, a widow of Seville, was arrested as a Lutheran. Her property was sequestrated; but it was soon found, that Francis Beltran, her son, had concealed several chests of valuable effects before the inventory was taken. Constantine had committed some prohibited books to the care of this woman, who concealed them in her cellar. The inquisitors sent Louis Sotelo, the alguazil of the holy office, to Francis Beltran, to claim the effects which he had concealed. Francis, on seeing the alguazil, did not doubt that his mother had declared the concealment of the books given to her care by Constantine, and without waiting until Sotelo should tell him the cause of his visit, he said, Señor Sotelo, I suppose that you come for the things deposited in my mother’s house. If you will promise that I shall not be punished for not giving information of them, I will show you what there is hidden there. Beltran then conducted the alguazil to his mother’s house, and pulled down part of the wall, behind which the Lutheran books of Constantine had been concealed; Sotelo, astonished at this sight, told him that he should take possession of the books, but that he did not consider himself bound by his promise, as he only came to claim the effects which he had concealed. This declaration increased the alarm of Beltran, and he gave everything up to the alguazil, on condition that he might remain free in his house. This denunciation had been made by a servant, who hoped to obtain the benefit of the act of Ferdinand V., which assigns the fourth part of the concealed effects to the informer.
Among the prohibited books, were found several writings by Constantine Ponce de Fuente, which treated of the true church according to the principles of the Lutherans, and proved in their manner, that this church was not that of the papists: he also discussed in them several other points on which the Lutherans differed from the Catholics. Constantine could not deny these papers, as they were in his own hand-writing; he confessed that they contained the profession of his faith, but refused to name his accomplices and disciples. The inquisitors, instead of decreeing the torture, plunged him into a deep, humid, and obscure dungeon, where the air, impregnated with the most dangerous miasma, soon altered his health. Overcome by this persecution, he exclaimed, “My God, were there no Scythians or cannibals into whose hands to deliver me, rather than to let me fall into the power of these barbarians!” This situation could not last long; Constantine fell sick, and died of a dysentery: it was reported, when the auto-da-fé was celebrated, that he had killed himself to avoid his punishment. His trial was as celebrated as his person. The inquisitors caused the merits or charges against him to be read in a pulpit close to their seats, where the people could not hear them; the Corregidor Calderon remarked the circumstance twice, and they were obliged to begin it again where those of the other trials were read. Constantine had published the first part of a catechism; the second was not printed. The following works of Constantine were inserted in the prohibitory Index, published in 1559, by Don Ferdinand Valdés:—An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine; a Dialogue on the same subject, between a Master and his Disciple; The Confession of a Sinner to Jesus Christ; A Christian Catechism; An Exposition of the Psalm, Beatus qui non abiit in concilio impiorum. Alphonso de Ulloa, in his Life of Charles V., gives the highest praise to the works of Constantine, particularly his Treatise on the Christian Doctrine, which was translated into Italian [22]. The effigy of Contantine was not like those of the other condemned persons (which were an unformed mass surmounted by a head); it was an entire figure with the arms spread, as Constantine was accustomed to do when preaching, and was clothed in garments which appeared to have belonged to him. After the auto-da-fé, this figure was taken back to the Holy Office, and a common effigy was burnt with the bones of the condemned.
Another prisoner died in the dungeons of the Inquisition; he was (according to Gonzalez de Montis) a monk of the Convent of St. Isidore, named Ferdinand. The same author affirms, that one Olmedo, a Lutheran, was likewise carried off by an epidemic disease which ravaged the prisons, and that he uttered groans similar to those of Constantine when he was dying. I have not found that any Inquisition in Spain has, of late years, condemned any person to this sort of dungeon, unless the torture was decreed; the inquisitors of that time cannot be pardoned for making them a common prison.
The Doctor Juan Perez de Pineda, whose effigy was the third in the auto-da-fé, was born at Montilla in Andalusia; he was placed at the head of the College de la Doctrina, in which the young people of Seville were educated.
He made his escape when he was informed that the inquisitors were about to arrest him as suspected of Lutheranism. Proceedings were instituted against him as contumacious, and he was condemned as a formal Lutheran heretic. He had composed several works: the Index prohibited the following: The Holy Bible, translated into the Castilian tongue; a Catechism, printed at Venice in 1556 by Pedro Daniel; The Psalms of David in Spanish; and a Summary of the Christian Doctrine. Juan Perez had attained a great age when he was condemned. Of the fourteen persons who were reconciled in the second auto-da-fé the most remarkable were:—
Julian Hernandez, surnamed the Little, a native of Villaverdè. The wish to promulgate Lutheran books in Seville induced him to go to Germany. He gave the books to Don Juan Ponce de Leon, who undertook to distribute them. He passed more than three years in the prisons of the Holy Office, and was tortured several times, to force him to discover his accomplices. He bore the torture with a fortitude far above his physical strength, and remained faithful to his creed. When he arrived at the stake he arranged the wood around him so as to burn quickly; the Doctor Ferdinand Rodriguez, who attended him, demanded that the gag should be taken from his month, that he might make his confession, but Júlian opposed it, and he was burnt.
Nicholas Burton, born in England, was condemned at an impenitent Lutheran heretic. It is impossible to justify the conduct of the inquisitors to this Englishman, and several other foreigners who had not settled in Spain, and were merely returning to their respective countries after having transacted their commercial affairs. This man came to Spain in a vessel laden with merchandise, which, he said, was all his own property, but of which some part belonged to John Fronton, who was reconciled in this auto-da-fé. Burton refused to abjure, and was burnt alive; the inquisitors seized his vessel and its freight, thus proving that avarice was the principal motive of the Inquisition. The inquisitors were guilty of a great cruelty in this instance, and the commerce of Spain would perhaps have been destroyed, if the violence committed against Burton, and some others, had not been protested against by the different powers, which induced Philip IV. to prohibit the inquisitors from molesting foreign merchants and travellers, if they did not attempt to promulgate heretical opinions; but the inquisitors eluded this order, by pretending that they brought prohibited books into the kingdom, or spoke in favour of heresy.
Gonzalez de Montes speaks of the arrival in Spain of a very rich stranger, named Rehukin, whose vessel was finer and better built than any that had ever appeared at San-Lucar de Barrameda. The Inquisition arrested him as an heretic, and confiscated his property; the merchant proved that the vessel did not belong to him, and that it could not be included in the confiscation; but his efforts to recover it were useless.
Two other foreigners shared the fate of Burton. One was an Englishman named William Brook, born at Sarum, and a sailor; the other was a Frenchman of Bayonne, named Fabianne, whose trade required his presence in Spain.
The Beata protected by Francis Zafra, who had recovered her senses, but persisted in her heresy, was burnt in this auto-da-fé, with five women of her family. Thirty-four persons were condemned to penances. The most remarkable instances were:—
John Fronton, an Englishman of the city of Bristol, who came to Seville, where he was informed of the arrest of Nicholas Burton. He was the proprietor of a considerable part of the merchandise taken from Burton, and after proving this fact by documents which he brought from England he claimed restitution. He was subjected to great delays and expenses, but as it was impossible to deny his rights, the inquisitors promised to restore the merchandise: in the mean time they contrived that witnesses should appear and depose that John Fronton had advanced heretical propositions, and he was taken to the secret prisons. The fear of death induced Fronton to say everything that the inquisitors required, and he demanded reconciliation. He was declared to be violently suspected of the Lutheran heresy. This was sufficient to authorize the inquisitors to seize his property, and he was reconciled, condemned to forfeit his merchandise, and to wear the san-benito for the space of one year. This is a remarkable proof of the mischief produced by the secrecy of the inquisitorial proceedings. If the affair of John Fronton had been made public, any lawyer would have shown the nullity and falsehood of the instruction. Yet there are Englishmen who defend the tribunal of the holy office as a useful institution, and I have heard an English Catholic priest speak in its defence. I represented that he did not understand the nature of the tribunal; that I was not less attached to the Catholic religion than he, or any inquisitor might be; but that if the spirit of peace and charity, humility and disinterestedness, inculcated by the Holy Scriptures, is compared with the system of severity, craft, and malice, dictated by the laws of the holy office, and the power possessed by the inquisitors (from the secrecy of their proceedings) of abusing their authority in defiance of natural and divine laws, the orders of the Popes and the royal decrees, it will be impossible not to detest the tribunal as only tending to produce hypocrisy.
Gaspard de Benavides was an alcalde of the prison of the Inquisition, and appeared in the auto-da-fé with a flambeau; he was banished for life from Seville, and lost his place, for having failed in zeal and attention in his employment. Let this qualification and the sentence be compared with the crime of which he was accused. He purloined part of the small rations of the prisoners, the food which he gave them was of a bad quality, and he made them pay for it, as if it was superior; he did not take care to prepare it properly, it was badly cooked and seasoned; he deceived them in the price of wood, and made false bills of expenditure. If any of the prisoners complained, he removed them to a dark and humid dungeon, where he left them for a fortnight or even longer, to punish them for murmuring; he did not fail to tell them that he did this by the order of the inquisitors, and that they were released at his intercession. When any prisoner demanded an audience, Gaspard (fearing that they would denounce him) did not inform the inquisitors of the request, and told the prisoner the next day that the inquisitors were so much occupied that they could not grant audiences. In short, there was no sort of injustice which he did not commit, until the moment when his conduct was discovered by chance.
Maria Gonzalez, a servant of this man, was condemned to receive two hundred stripes, and to be banished for ten years. Her crime was, having received money from some prisoners, and having permitted them to see and converse with each other.
Donna Jane Bohorques was declared innocent. She was the legitimate daughter of Don Pedro Garcia de Xeres y Bohorques, and the sister of Donna Maria Bohorques, who perished in a former auto-da-fé. She had married Don Francis de Vargas, lord of the borough of Higuera. She was taken to the secret prisons when her unfortunate sister declared that she was acquainted with her opinions, and had not opposed them; as if silence could prove that she had admitted the doctrine to be true. Jane Bohorques was six months gone with child; but this did not prevent the inquisitors from proceeding in her trial, a cruelty which will not surprise, when it is considered that she was arrested before any proof of her crime had been obtained. She was delivered in the prison; her child was taken from her at the end of eight days, in defiance of the most sacred rights of nature, and she was imprisoned in one of the common dungeons of the holy office. The inquisitors thought they did all that humanity required in giving her a less inconvenient cell than the common prison. It fortunately happened that she had as a companion in her cell a young girl who was afterwards burnt as a Lutheran, and who pitying her situation, treated her with the utmost tenderness during her convalescence. She soon required the same care; she was tortured, and all her limbs were bruised and almost dislocated. Jane Bohorques attended her in this dreadful state. Jane Bohorques was not yet quite recovered, when she was tortured in the same manner. The cords with which her still feeble limbs were bound penetrated to the bone, and several blood vessels breaking in her body, torrents of blood flowed from her mouth. She was taken back to her dungeon in a dying state, and expired a few days after. The inquisitors thought they expiated this cruel murder by declaring Jane Bohorques innocent, in the auto-da-fé of this day. Under what an overwhelming responsibility will these monsters appear before the tribunal of the Almighty!