CHAPTER XVIII.

OF IMPORTANT EVENTS DURING THE FIRST YEARS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE EIGHTH INQUISITOR-GENERAL; RELIGION OF CHARLES V. DURING THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE.

Trials during the first years of the ministry of Valdés.

Don Ferdinand Valdes was the successor of Cardinal Loaisa in the archbishopric of Seville, and the office of inquisitor-general. At the time of his appointment he was bishop of Siguenza, and president of the royal Council of Castile, after having been successively a member of the grand College of St. Bartholomew de Salamanca, of the Council of Administration for the archbishopric of Toledo, for the Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros, visitor of the Inquisition of Cuença and of the Royal Council of Navarre, a member of the Council of State, canon of the metropolitan church of Santiago de Galicia, counsellor of the Supreme Inquisition, bishop of Elna, Orensa, Oviedo and Leon, and president of the Royal Chancery of Valladolid. So many honours could not render him insensible to the mortification of not being a cardinal like his predecessors, and of seeing Bartholomew Carranza elevated to the see of Toledo. This was the true cause of his cruel persecution of Carranza.

The Pope approved the nomination of Valdés in January, 1547, and he took possession of his office in the following month. Valdés displayed an almost sanguinary disposition during his administration. It led him to demand from the Pope the power of condemning Lutherans to be burnt, even though they had not relapsed, and had desired to be reconciled. I shall here make known the most illustrious of the victims sacrificed before the abdication of Charles V., as it is necessary to make a separate article for the events of that nature under the reign of Philip II.

Among the condemned persons who appeared in the auto-da-fé of Seville in 1552, was Juan Gil, a native of Olvera, in Aragon, and a canon in the metropolitan church of that city; he is better known by the name of Doctor Egidius. He was first condemned, as violently suspected, to abjure the Lutheran heresy, and to be subjected to a penance; but four years after his death, in 1556, he was condemned, and, as having relapsed, his body was disinterred, and burnt with his effigy; his memory was declared infamous, and his property confiscated, for having died as a Lutheran. Raymond Gonzales de Montes was his companion in prison, but succeeded in escaping, and was burnt in effigy. In a work written on the Spanish Inquisition, he has introduced several particulars relating to the life of Juan Gil. He informs us that Egidius studied theology at Alcala de Henares, and there obtained the title of Doctor. He acquired so great a reputation, that he was compared to Peter Lombard, to St. Thomas d’Aquinas, to John Scott, and other theologians of the greatest merit. His talents induced the chapter of Seville to offer him unanimously the office of preacher to the cathedral. Egidius had very little talent for preaching, and the canons soon repented of having appointed him.

Rodrigo de Valero told Egidius that the books from which he derived his knowledge were worth nothing, and that his preaching would never be admired, if he did not study the Bible. Egidius took his advice, and in time acquired a style of preaching extremely agreeable to the people, but his success raised him many enemies.

The emperor gave him the Bishopric of Tortosa in 1550, which increasing the envy and hatred of his enemies, they denounced him to the Inquisition of Seville as a Lutheran heretic, for some propositions which he had advanced in his sermons, and which they separated from the other parts, to give them a different sense from what they would otherwise have had; they took advantage of the favour he showed to Rodrigo Valero in 1540 during his trial, and of some other circumstances, to injure him.

Egidius was taken to the secret prisons of the holy office in 1550: he made use of this opportunity to compose his apology, which rendered the storm his enemies had raised still more violent. His simplicity had made him, in his apology, establish as certain principles, some propositions which the scholastic theologians looked upon as erroneous, and tending to heresy. The conduct and morals of Egidius were so pure, that the emperor wrote in his favour, the chapter of Seville followed his example, and (what is still more remarkable) the licentiate, Correa, Dean of the inquisitors, was touched by his innocence, and undertook to defend him against his colleague, Pedro Diaz, who bore the greatest hatred to the accused. This circumstance was particularly mortifying to Egidius, as his enemy formerly held the same opinions, and had likewise studied in the school of Rodrigo Valero.

The interest which Egidius had inspired induced the inquisitors to accede to his proposal of a discussion between him and some learned theologians. Brother Garcia de Arias, of the convent of St. Isidore of Seville, was chosen; but his opinion was not deemed sufficient, and Juan Gil demanded the Dominican friar, Dominic Soto, should be summoned to the conference. This incidence retarded the trial, but Soto at last arrived at Seville.

According to Gonzales de Montes, this theologian held the same opinions as Egidius; but to prevent the suspicions which might arise from this circumstance, he persuaded Egidius to draw up a sort of confession of faith. They agreed that both should write their opinions, and only communicate them to each other in public. This author states that these confessions of faith were compared, and found to accord perfectly.

The inquisitors being informed of this arrangement, declared that, as the reputation of a bishop was concerned, it was necessary to convoke a public assembly, where Dominic Soto should explain the object of the meeting in a sermon, and read his confession of faith; that Egidius should afterwards read his, that the assembly might judge of the conformity of their opinions. The inquisitors caused two pulpits to be prepared, but, either by chance, or from a private order, they were so far apart, that Egidius could not hear what Soto said.

Soto [12] read an exposition of his principles entirely different from that on which they had agreed in their private conferences; and as Egidius did not hear him, and supposed that he was reading the same confession which he had approved, he consequently made signs with his head and hands that be accorded with his propositions. Egidius then began to read his confession of faith, but those who understood the subject, soon perceived that there was not the slightest resemblance between them, and that Egidius held several opinions entirely opposite to some propositions advanced by Dominic Soto, and acknowledged as dogmatical by the tribunal of the faith: this circumstance effaced the favourable impressions produced by the gestures of Egidius. The inquisitors added these writings to those of the trial, and passed judgment upon Egidius according to the advice of Soto. He was declared violently suspected of the Lutheran heresy, and condemned to three years’ imprisonment; he was prohibited from preaching, writing, or explaining theology for the space of ten years, and never to leave the kingdom on pain of being considered and punished as a formal heretic.

Egidius remained in prison until 1555; he was at first extremely astonished at his situation, after having perfectly agreed with the Dominican on all the points in question. He was not undeceived, until some of his fellow-prisoners informed him of the difference of his articles with those of Soto, and the treachery of that monk.

Egidius took advantage of the short interval of liberty which followed his imprisonment to go to Valladolid, where he had an interview with Doctor Cazalla and other Lutherans in that city: on his return to Seville he fell sick, and died in 1556. The tribunal being informed of his intercourse with heretics, instituted another trial, and pronounced that he died an heretic; his body was disinterred, and burnt with his effigy, in a solemn auto-da-fé, his memory declared infamous, and his property confiscated: this sentence was executed in 1560.

It will be necessary here to quote a letter of Don Bartholomew Carranza to Brother Louis de la Cruz, a Dominican, and his disciple. The archbishop mentions as a well-known circumstance, that his catechism had been presented to the holy office; Brother Melchior Cano and Dominic Soto had been commissioned to censure it, and that they had judged unfavourably of his work. He complained much of this conduct in Soto; he said he could not comprehend such scruples in a man who had been so indulgent to the Doctor Egidius who was considered as an heretic, while, on the contrary, the author of the Catechism had combated the opinions of the heretics of England and Flanders; that Soto had judged the book of a Dominican monk no less favourably, while he treated an archbishop, whom he was bound to respect, without consideration; that he would, in consequence, write to Rome and Flanders, where he hoped that his propositions would be more favourably received than at Valladolid; but that, at all events, Pedro de Soto, confessor to the emperor, would write to Dominic, and he hoped that the Almighty would allay the tempest which had been raised around him.

Brother Pedro wrote to Dominic Soto, and a correspondence ensued between him and the archbishop Carranza, on the censure of the catechism, and other works. These letters were found among the papers of Carranza, when he was arrested by the Inquisition. They proved that Dominic Soto had violated the secrecy which he had sworn to maintain before the Inquisition: some details were found in them relating to the violence which had been used to make him condemn the catechism of Carranza; he was arrested by the Inquisition of Valladolid, on account of these expressions.

It appears from the archbishop’s letter, that the censure of Brother Dominic on Egidius was mild and conciliating, which does not accord with the substitution of the false exposition of his principles mentioned by Gonzales de Montes. I must observe that this author writes like a man blinded by his hatred of his enemies, whom he calls papists, hypocrites, and idolaters; he even carries his fanaticism so far as to look upon the deaths of the three judges of Egidius during his lifetime as a particular effect of divine justice.

As the affair of Juan Gil is connected with the history of Rodrigo Valero, I shall here relate it. He was born of a good family in Lebrija. In his youth, he was extremely irregular and dissipated, but all at once he quitted society, and shut himself up to study the Scriptures with so much ardour, that his conversation, and his contempt for food and clothing, made him pass for a madman.

He endeavoured to persuade priests and monks, that the Roman church was far from holding the pure doctrine of the Evangelists, and became one of the sect of Luther. His attachment to their doctrine was so great, that when he was asked from whom he held his mission, he replied from God himself through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

This fanatic was denounced to the holy office, which paid no attention to it, being persuaded that Rodrigo was mad. But as he continued to preach in the streets in favour of Lutheranism, and as no part of his conduct showed that he was deranged, he was arrested, and would have been condemned to be delivered over to secular justice, if the inquisitors had not persisted in believing him to be mad, and if his disciple Egidius, whose opinions were not then known, had not undertaken his defence. Nevertheless, he was condemned in 1540 as an heretic and false apostle; he was admitted to reconciliation, deprived of his property, condemned to the San-benito, to perpetual imprisonment, and to assist on every Sunday at the grand mass of St. Saviour of Seville.

Several times, when he heard the preacher advance propositions contrary to his own, he raised his voice, and reproached him for his doctrine: this boldness confirmed the inquisitors in the opinion that he was deprived of reason: he was shut up in a convent in the town of San Lucar de Barrameda, where he died at the age of fifty. Gonzales de Montes considers him as a man miraculously sent by God to preach the truth: he adds, that his San-benito was suspended in the metropolitan church of Seville, where it excited great curiosity, as he was the first person condemned as a false apostle.

Although, during the period of which I have related the history, there were fewer Judaic heretics than in former times, yet there were many more than might be supposed. Of this number was Mary de Bourgogne, who was born at Saragossa: her father-in-law was a native of Burgundy, of Jewish extraction. A New Christian slave, (who had renounced the law of Moses, to obtain his liberty, and was afterwards burnt for having relapsed,) in 1552, denounced Mary de Bourgogne, who resided in the city of Murcia, and had attained her eighty-fifth year. This man deposed that, before his conversion, some person asked him if he was a Christian; he replied that he was a Jew, and that Mary then said to him, You are right, for the Christians have neither faith nor law. It will no doubt appear incredible, but the trial proves that in 1557 she was still in prison, waiting until sufficient proof was found to condemn her. After having waited in vain, the inquisitors commanded that Mary should be tortured, though she was then ninety years old, and the council had decreed that in such cases the criminal should only be intimidated by the preparations. The inquisitor Cano says, that the moderate torture was applied; but such were the effects of this gentle application, that the unfortunate Mary ceased to live and suffer in a few days after.

The inquisitors took advantage of some expressions which escaped from the unfortunate woman during the torture, to condemn her as a Judaic heretic, in order to confiscate her property, which was considerable. Her memory, her children, and her descendants in the male line were declared infamous, her bones and effigy were burnt, and her property confiscated.

The Supreme Council showed a certain degree of moderation in another affair, before the tribunal of Toledo. Michael Sanchez died in prison, before his sentence, which was a pecuniary penalty, could be announced to him: the inquisitors were uncertain if his property was liable for this penalty; they applied to the council, which replied in the negative.

I now terminate the history of the remarkable events of the reign of Charles V. After a reign of forty years, this prince abdicated the crown in favour of his son Philip II., on the 16th of January, 1556. He did not long survive his abdication; he died in the convent of the Jeronimites, at Yuste in the province of Estremadura, on the 21st of September, 1558, aged fifty-seven years and twenty-one days. He had made his will at Brussels on the 16th of June, 1554, and a codicil in the monastery of Yuste, twelve days before his death.

Religion of Charles V.

Some historians have asserted, that Charles V. adopted, in his retreat, the opinions of the German protestants; that in his last illness he confessed himself to Constantine Ponce de la Fuente, his preacher, who was afterwards known to be a Lutheran; that after his death Philip II. commissioned the inquisitors to examine the affair, and that the holy office took possession of the emperor’s will, to examine if it contained anything contrary to the true faith. These statements compel me to enter into some details which will elucidate this point of history.

To ascertain that the report on the religion of Charles V. is only an invention of the protestants and the enemies of Philip II., it is sufficient to read the life of that prince, and that of his father, composed by Gregorio Leti. Although this historian has made use of the least authentic documents, in his work, he is entirely silent on this point. He enters into a minute detail of the life and occupations of Charles V. in his retreat, and he relates many decisive proofs of his attachment to the catholic faith, and his zeal in wishing that it might triumph over the Lutheran heresy; and though no dependance can be placed on what he says concerning the conversations of the emperor with the Archbishop Carranza, (since there is nothing relating to them in his trial, which I have read,) yet it must be confessed that his recital is otherwise very exact.

It is not true that Constantine Ponce de la Fuente attended the emperor in his last moments, either as his preacher, (which office he had filled in Germany,) or as a bishop, since he did not possess that dignity, as foreign authors have asserted without any foundation, or as his confessor, since he had never directed his conscience, though the emperor had always looked upon him as one of the most learned and respectable priests in his kingdom. Lastly, Ponce de la Fuente could not assist Charles V. in his last moments, since it appears from his trial before the Inquisition of Seville, that he was in the secret prisons of the holy office long before the illness of the emperor. Don Prudent de Sandoval, Bishop of Tui and Pampeluna, speaking of the last circumstances of the life of Charles V., relates that when that prince heard of the imprisonment of Ponce, he said, Oh! if Constantine is an heretic, he is a great heretic: an expression very different from that which he used on hearing that a monk named Dominic de Guzman had been arrested in the same city: They might rather imprison him as a fool than an heretic.

In his codicil, written twelve days before his death, Charles V. thus expresses himself: “When I had been informed that many persons had been arrested in some provinces, and that others were to be taken, as accused of Lutheranism, I wrote to the princess my daughter, to inform her in what manner they should be punished, and the evil remedied. I also wrote afterwards to Louis Quixada, and authorized him to act in my name in the same affair; and although I am persuaded that the king my son, the princess my daughter, and the ministers, have already, and will always, make every possible effort to destroy so great an evil, with all the severity and promptitude which it requires; yet, considering what I owe to the service of our Lord, the triumph of his faith, the preservation of his church and the Christian religion, (in the defence of which I have performed such painful labours at the risk of my life, as every one knows;) and particularly desiring, above all, to inspire my son, whose catholic sentiments I know, with the wish of imitating my conduct, and which I hope he will do, from knowing his virtue and piety, I beg and recommend to him very particularly, as much as I can and am obliged to do, and command him moreover in my quality of father, and by the obedience which he owes me, to labour with diligence, as in a point which particularly interests him, that the heretics shall be prosecuted and chastised with all the severity which their crimes deserve, without permitting any criminal to be excepted, without any respect for the entreaties, or rank, or quality of the persons: and that my intentions may have their full and entire effect, I desire him to protect the holy office of the Inquisition, for the great numbers of crimes which it prevents or punishes, remembering that I have charged him to do so in my will, that he may fulfil his duty as a prince, and render himself worthy that the Lord should make his reign prosperous, conduct his affairs, and protect him against his enemies, to my consolation [13].”

I have already stated, that no dependance can be placed on the account given by Gregorio Leti of the conversations of the emperor with Don Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, archbishop of Toledo. It is certain that the emperor had a great esteem for Carranza, which induced him to give him the bishopric of Cusco in America, in 1542, and of the Canaries in 1549; to send him as theologian of the emperor to the council of Trent, in 1545 and 1551; and to London with his son Philip II., King of Naples and England, in 1554, to preach against the Lutherans. Nevertheless, when he was informed, in his retreat at Yuste, that Carranza had accepted the archbishopric of Toledo, to which King Philip had appointed him, he began to feel less esteem for him, because he did not know that Carranza had refused that dignity, and named three persons whom he considered more worthy to occupy it. Philip was not only displeased at this refusal, but he commanded him to obey the will of his sovereign, and wrote to the Pope, who supported his order by a particular brief addressed to Br. Bartholomew.

Charles V., at this period, had Br. Juan de Regla, a Jeronimite, and a learned theologian, for his confessor. He had assisted at the Council of Trent with Carranza, whom he always treated as an enemy, because he was jealous of his great reputation. I shall hereafter prove the disposition of Juan de Regla towards Carranza; at present I shall only show that he had great part in his disgrace with the emperor, for being suspected of professing the same doctrines as Egidius, Constantine, Cazalla, and others. Regla became more fanatic than charitable, during the persecution which he suffered from the Inquisition of Saragossa, when he was prior of the Convent of Santa Fè; he was condemned to abjure eighteen Lutheran propositions, of which the inquisitors declared him to be suspected. The emperor was also informed, through the private correspondence of his children, that the Inquisition was occupied in preparing the trial of the archbishop for heresy, when he came to visit him in his last illness; and his presence was so disagreeable, that, instead of conversing with him, as Leti affirms, he did not speak one word. Sandoval, with more probability, thus expresses himself: “This evening the archbishop of Toledo, Carranza, arrived, but he could not see the emperor. This prince had waited for him with much impatience since he had quitted England, because he wished to have an explanation on certain things which had been reported of him, and seemed to show that his faith was suspected; for that of the prince was extremely lively, and anything which appeared contrary to sound doctrine gave him great pain. The archbishop returned on another day; the emperor who wished much to hear him, admitted him into his presence, and told him to sit down, but did not talk to him, and on that night he became much worse. [14]

The animosity of Juan de Regla against the archbishop of Toledo, was soon manifested in two voluntary informations before the Inquisitor-General Valdes, on the 9th and 23rd of December, in 1558, at Valladolid. I shall at a future period explain all the articles of the denunciation of Juan de Regla, but it is necessary to anticipate the order of time in affairs, to prove that Charles V. was not disposed to favour Carranza in the latter part of his life.

The first denunciation took place on the 9th of December: it imported, that on the day before the death of the emperor, the archbishop of Toledo kissed his majesty’s hand, and left the room; that he soon after returned; and that he did so several times, though the emperor showed very little desire to see him, and that he gave him absolution before he confessed him; which Juan da Regla imputed to the archbishop as a sign of contempt or neglect of the sacrament: that in one of these visits he said to the emperor, Your majesty may be full of confidence, for there is not, nor ever has been any sin, the death of Jesus having sufficed to efface it; that this discourse appeared bad to him, and that there were present Br. Pedro de Sotomayor and Br. Diego Ximenez, Dominicans; Br. Marcos Oriols de Cardona and Br. Francis Villalba, monks of St. Jerome: the last was his majesty’s preacher; the Count de Oropesa and Don Diego de Toledo his brother; Don Louis d’Avila Zuñiga, grand commander of the military order of Alcantara, and Don Louis de Quixada, major-domo to the emperor.

The inquisitor-general would not admit the Dominican monks as witnesses, because he supposed them subject to the archbishop: the evidences of Count Oropesa and his brother were likewise rejected, because they were his friends. The monk of St. Jerome declared that the archbishop arrived at Yuste on a Sunday, two days before the death of the emperor; that this prince would not see him or allow him to enter, but his major-domo, Don Louis de Quixada, undertook to introduce him; that Carranza threw himself on his knees in the chamber, and that the emperor, without saying a word to him, fixed his eyes upon him, like a person who wishes to express himself by a look: that the persons who were present retired: that when the archbishop came out of the chamber he appeared discontented, and he the witness believed that he was so, having heard from William, the emperor’s barber, that on the day when the news of the nomination of Carranza to the archbishopric of Toledo arrived, his majesty said, When I gave him the bishopric of the Canaries he refused it; now he accepts the archbishopric of Toledo; we shall see what we are to think of his virtue; that their private interview lasted a quarter of an hour, and the archbishop called in the attendants. When they entered, the archbishop threw himself on his knees, and his majesty made a sign for him to sit down, and repeat some words of consolation; that the prelate again threw himself on his knees, and repeated the four first verses of the psalm De profundis, not literally, but paraphrasing the text. His majesty made him a sign to stop, and Carranza then retired with the other attendants; that on another day, about the hour of ten in the evening, just before the emperor expired, Carranza visited him, because he had been informed of his danger, and gave him the crucifix to kiss, and at the same time addressed some words of consolation to him, at which the monks Juan de Regla, Francis de Villalba, Francis Angulo, prior, and Louis de St. Gregoria, were scandalized. These persons conversed together afterwards, and said that the prelate ought not to have spoken thus; but the witness could not recollect what the words were. They were repeated to him, and he replied that he believed they might be the same, but that he could not be certain, as he was reading the passion of our Saviour, according to St. Luke, at the time; he only remarked that the monks looked at one another with a kind of mystery.

Neither Francis Angulo, nor Louis de St. Gregoria were examined, perhaps they were dead. Francis de Villalba, preacher to the emperor, declared, that he had not heard anything in the emperor’s apartment which was worthy of being reported to the Inquisition. Being questioned as to what he thought of the discourse which the archbishop had addressed to the emperor, he replied that he was only present once, when the prelate recited some verses of the De profundis ; that Don Louis d’Avila afterwards requested him to speak to the emperor, and that he made him an exhortation. When examined on the subject of the words and the scandal, he replied that he did not hear or see anything that could offend him.

Don Louis d’Avila y Zuñiga cited the entrance of the prelate; and that he took a crucifix and knelt down, saying with a loud voice, behold him who answers for all; there is no longer any sin, all is pardoned. The witness did not recollect if the archbishop said, and however numerous the sins may be, they are all pardoned: that these words did not appear proper to him, and he requested the emperor’s preacher to make him an exhortation, who afterwards told him that his majesty appeared satisfied.

Don Louis de Quixada deposed that the archbishop was with the emperor, three times before his death, that he saw him take a crucifix, and that he pronounced some words on the subject of Jesus Christ dying for our sins, but he could not recollect them, because his employment as major-domo occupied him at the time.

These circumstances show that Charles V. was far from being inclined to Lutheranism at his death. It is equally false that the inquisitors took his will, to examine if it contained any sentiments tending to heresy. I have read or consulted a multitude of books and papers in the archives of the Inquisition, and could not discover anything to support the opinion; so that nothing now remains but to seek the origin of this fable.

A number of circumstances may have caused the Inquisition to be mentioned in relating the death of Charles V. The first is, that Carranza, who attended him at his death, was soon after arrested by the holy office; the second, that his two preachers, Constantine Ponce and Augustine Cazalla, were condemned by that tribunal; the third, that his confessor, Juan de Regla, was obliged to abjure certain propositions; the fourth, that the emperor himself had been threatened with excommunication three years before, as a favourer of heretics, by Paul IV.; the fifth, that Philip II. made use of the Inquisition in a variety of circumstances entirely political.

Charles V. died a Catholic; and it is only to be regretted that he associated so many superstitions with his Catholicism, and showed so much attachment to the Inquisition during his life.