CHAPTER XXV.

OF THE LEARNED MEN WHO HAVE BEEN PERSECUTED BY THE INQUISITION.

AMONG the many evils which the Inquisition has inflicted on Spain, the obstacles which it opposes to the progress of the arts and sciences, and literature, are not the least deplorable. The partisans of the holy office have never allowed this, yet it is a certain truth. The apologists, of whom I speak, maintain, that the Inquisition only opposes the invasion of heretical opinions, and leaves those who do not attack the doctrines of the faith in perfect liberty,—consequently, that it does not influence the arts and sciences. If this pretension was just, there are many excellent works which might be read, and which are only prohibited because they contain doctrines opposed to the opinions of the scholastic theologians.

St. Augustine was certainly a very zealous partisan of religion in its greatest purity, yet he made a great distinction between a dogmatic proposition and one not defined. He acknowledged that in the second case a Catholic was free to maintain the argument for, or against, according to the dictates of his reason. St. Augustine did not suppose that the freedom of opinion would be opposed by such theological censures as the qualifiers of the holy office have established in modern times. They have had great influence on the prohibition of books, and even on the condemnation of their authors. They are employed against the first, on pretence that they contain propositions favourable to heresy, ill sounding, savouring of heresy, fomenting heresy, or tending to heresy; against the authors, in declaring them suspected of having adopted heresy in their hearts.

In the present time the qualifiers have extended the prohibitions, by saying that the books contained propositions offensive to persons of high rank, seditious, tending to disturb public tranquillity, contrary to the government of the state, and opposed to the obedience which has been taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles.

These censures are generally passed by scholastic theologians. The work of Filangieri, entitled The Science of Legislation, was censured by Fray Joseph de Cardenas, a Capuchin, who thought himself competent to do it, though he had only read the first volume of the Spanish translation, which contained only half of that of the original.

The prohibition applies most to those books which treat of theology, and the canonical laws, particularly if they are well written, and contain the doctrines taught by the fathers, the councils, and even by the popes who reigned in the seven first centuries, but which have been forgotten or opposed by the theologians of the barbarous times, who wished to establish the system of the union of the two powers in the person of the sovereign pontiff.

The theological censures likewise attack works on philosophy, on civil and natural law, and on the people. Those books which have been published on mathematics, astronomy, physic, and other subjects which depend upon these, have not been more highly favoured. The Spaniards have, consequently, been deprived of the advantages which other nations have derived from all the recent discoveries.

Since the establishment of the holy office, there has scarcely been any man celebrated for his learning, who has not been prosecuted as a heretic. In the list which follows, I shall not (unless particular circumstances render it necessary) include any learned man who has been prosecuted for having embraced Judaism, Mahometanism, or any sect equally prohibited by the Catholic religion. Those only will be mentioned who suffered in their liberty, honour and fortunes, from not having adopted erroneous scholastic opinions.

The names are disposed in an alphabetical order, that the reader may be enabled to find the article he wishes to consult more quickly.

Abady-la-Sierra (D. Augustin), bishop of Barbastro. See Chapter 29.

Abady-la-Sierra (D. Manuel), archbishop of Selimbria, ibid.

Almodobar (Duke of). See following Chapter.

Aranda (Count d’). Ibid.

Arellano (D. Joseph Xavier Rodriguez d’), archbishop of Burgos. See Chapter 29.

Avila (the venerable Juan d’), secular priest, born at Almodovar del Campo, surnamed the Apostle of Andalusia. See Chapters 13 and 14.

Azara (Doctor Nicholas d’). See the following Chapter.

Balvoa (Doctor Juan de), doctoral canon of the cathedral of Salamanca, and law professor in the university of that city. He was one of the most distinguished literati of his age. Nicolas Antonio only mentions one of his works, entitled Salmantine Lessons. He composed several others, one of which would have caused him to be arrested by the Inquisition, if he had not been protected by the inquisitor-general, Cardinal Don Antonio Zapata, and by some of the councillors of the tribunal. It was a memoir which he had drawn up and presented in 1627, to Philip IV., in the name of the universities of Salamanca, Valladolid and Alcala. The object of this memoir was to induce the king to refuse the permission which the Jesuits had requested, to change the Imperial College of Madrid into a university.

The Jesuits denounced the work, and qualified some of the propositions as erroneous, offensive to pious ears, scandalous and injurious to the government, and to the regular ecclesiastics of the Society of Jesus.

The council caused the memoir to be examined by qualifiers, who declared that it did not merit theological censure, and the council abandoned the affair. The Jesuits then employed the influence of the Count Duke d’Olivarez with the king, but the attempt was unsuccessful. The other work which is attributed to Balvoa, is perhaps that which was printed at Rome in 1636, in the printing-office of the apostolic chamber. It is written in Latin, in quarto, and bears the name of Alphonso de Vargas de Toledo, with this title: An Exposition made by Alphonso de Vargas to the Christian Kings and Princes, of the Stratagems and political Artifices which the Members of the Society of Jesus employ to establish a universal Monarchy in their favour, a Work which proves the Deceit of the Jesuits towards the Kings and Nations who have received them favourably; their Perfidy and Disobedience, even to the Pope, and the immoderate Desire of Innovation which they have always shown in Matters of Religion. It has been said that this work was printed at Frankfort, with the exception of the justificatory pieces. The author advances and proves heavy charges against the Jesuits.

Bails (D. Benito), professor of mathematics at Madrid, and author of a work on that science, used in the schools. The Inquisition instituted his trial towards the end of the reign of Charles III., as suspected of atheism and materialism. Bails was deprived of the use of his limbs, and incapable of attending to his affairs; yet he was arrested and taken to the prisons of the holy office, with one of his nieces, who obtained permission to share his captivity, that she might continue to render him the assistance which his situation rendered necessary. He prepared his defence in the best manner he was able; and before the publication of the depositions, he acknowledged enough to show that he was sincere in his confession and repentance. When he was examined on his internal belief, he declared that he had had some doubts on the existence of a God, and the immortality of the soul, but that he had never actually been an atheist, or a materialist; that during his solitude in the prison, he had reflected on the subject, and was ready to abjure all heresies, and particularly those of which he was suspected. He demanded reconciliation, and a penance, which he promised to accomplish as well as his health would allow him. His situation was considered; and instead of sending him to a convent, whither his niece could not have followed him, he was kept for some time in the secret prisons of the holy office: he was afterwards removed to his own house, which served for his prison, and he was obliged to pay for his food during his imprisonment, and subjected to several other penances, one of which was being obliged to confess to a priest, who was appointed three times in the year,—at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.

Balza (Francis), Franciscan, and a celebrated preacher in the reign of Charles III. When the Jesuits were driven from Spain, he openly preached against the relaxed morals of the age; he inveighed against the authors who had introduced and propagated them, and endeavoured to inspire people with a horror of reading their works. As some of these authors were Jesuits, he declaimed violently against those persons who blamed the king for the measures he had taken, to drive them out of the kingdom. Balza was denounced at Logroño, and the inquisitors gave him to understand, that he would be treated with severity if he did not change his tone.

Barriovero (Doctor Ferdinand de), theologist of the church of Toledo, and a professor in the university. He was tried in 1558, for approving the doctrine of the Catechism of Don Bartholomew Carranza. He allayed the storm by retracting, when he received the king’s order to do so, and by sending his recantation to the Pope, when the Archbishops of Granada and Santiago, and the Bishop of Jaen adopted that measure.

Belando (Fray Nicolas de Jesus), Franciscan: he was prosecuted on account of his Civil History of Spain. In this work he gives an account of all the events from the accession of Philip IV. to 1733. The inquisitors prohibited this book entirely from political motives, and not from anything relating to doctrine; their judgment against Belando was given on the 6th of December, 1774. The inquisitors had no respect either for the license at the beginning of the book, the dedication to Philip V., or for the favourable opinion of an enlightened member of the Council of Castile, who was commissioned by his majesty to examine it, before he allowed it to be dedicated to him. The author appealed against the sentence, and demanded to be heard: he offered to reply to all the observations, and to make any alterations or suppressions in his work which the tribunal should suggest. This attempt of Belando to defend his book was considered as a crime, and he was confined in the dungeons of the holy office, where he suffered the harshest treatment. He only left them to be imprisoned for life in a convent, and he was prohibited from ever composing another work. He was stripped of the honours which distinguished him in his order, and more severe penances were inflicted on him than if he had been an heretic.

Bercial (Clement Sanchez del), priest, archdeacon of Valderas, and dignitary of the church of Leon. He was prosecuted and punished in the time of Charles V. for Lutheranism. He was condemned for some propositions in a work called Sacramental. In 1559, the inquisitor-general Valdez placed this book in the Index.

Berroçosa (Fray Manuel Santos), author of a work called Essays on the Theatre of Rome. He was imprisoned by the Inquisition of Toledo, because he spoke of the court of Rome, in his Essays, in a manner displeasing to the Jesuits and inquisitors. The proceedings in this trial were so arbitrary, that the work in question was not examined until the affair was nearly finished. The writings of this trial were taken from the archives of the Inquisition, for some unknown reason. In 1768 they were laid, by the king’s order, before the council extraordinary of bishops, who were assembled to consider the affairs of the Jesuits.

Blanco (Don Francis), archbishop of Santiago. See Chapter 29.

Brozas (Francis Sanchez de Las), generally called el Brocense; he was born in the village of Las Brozas, from whence he took his name. He was one of the greatest humanists of his age, and the most distinguished Spaniard of that party in the time of Philip II. During this reign he published several works, which are mentioned by Nicolas Antonio in his catalogue. The severe Justus Lipse calls him the Mercury and Apollo of Spain, and Gaspard Scioppius, the divine man. He was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Valladolid several times for some propositions contained in his works, but principally in a book in octavo, entitled, Escolias à las quatro Sylvas escritas en verso heroico por Angelo Policiano, intituladas Nutricia, Rustico, Manto y Ambra; viz. “Commentaries on the four Sylvas, written in heroic verse by Angelo Politiano, called Nutricia, Rustico, Manto, and Ambra.” El Brocense completely satisfied the qualifiers, and his work was not inscribed on the Index.

Baruaga (Don Thomas Saenz), archbishop of Saragossa. See Chapter 29.

Cadena (Louis de la), second chancellor of the university of Alcala de Henares, and nephew of Doctor Pedro de Lerma, who was the first who possessed that dignity. Cadena was one of the most learned men of his time; he understood Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and other eastern languages; he wrote Latin with the greatest elegance, and enjoyed a high reputation among the literati. The learned Alvaro Gomez de Castro says, in his History of Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros, that he had formed the design of destroying the bad scholastic taste which reigned in the universities. This enterprise cost Cadena dear: those who were attached to the opinions of the schools denounced him to the Inquisition of Toledo, as suspected of Lutheranism; the archbishops Ximenez de Cisneros and Fonseca, who protected the persecuted members of the university of Alcala, were no more; and Cadena was obliged to follow the example of his uncle, and fly to Paris to escape the dungeons of the holy office. He was received as a doctor in the Sorbonne, and died a professor in that celebrated house.

Campomanes. See following Chapter.

Cano (Melchior), bishop of Canary. See Chapter 29.

Cañuelo (Don Louis), advocate of the king’s council during the reign of Charles III. He was subjected to a penance, and abjured, de levi, for having inserted certain propositions in some numbers of a periodical work called The Censor, which appeared without the name of the author. Cañuelo often published declamations against superstition in the Censor, in which he proved the evil which might be produced by a blind and vain confidence in the indulgences and pardons obtained by those who wore the scapulary of our Lady of Mount Carmel, in reciting neuvaines, and in the other outward exercises of devotion, which he said were detrimental to the purity of religion. He also presumed to ridicule the pompous titles given by the monks to the saints of their orders: thus St. Augustine was called the Eagle of Doctors; St. Bernard, Honied; St. Thomas, Angelic; St. Buonaventure, Seraphic; St. John de la Cruix, Mystic; St. Francis, Cherubim; and St. Dominic, Burning. He one day offered a recompense to any one who would apply the name of Cardinal to St. Jerome, and that of Doctor to St. Theresa de Jesus. The monks whom he ridiculed could not forgive his boldness, and they persecuted him with virulence. The numbers of his work were prohibited, although they were already published; and he was forbidden to write on any subject which had the least relation to doctrine, morals, or the received opinions on piety and devotion.

Cantalapiedra (Martin Martinez de), professor of theology, and very learned in the Oriental tongues. He was prosecuted during the reign of Philip II. for publishing a book called Hippotiposeon, &c.; it was prohibited, and inserted in the Index of Cardinal Quiroga in 1583. This author was suspected of Lutheranism, from having too much enforced the necessity of consulting the original books of the Holy Scriptures, in preference to the interpretations: he abjured de levi, submitted to a penance, and was forbidden to write again. This example gives us an idea of the judgment and discrimination of the judges and qualifiers.

Carranza (Don Bartholomew), archbishop of Toledo. See Chapters 32, 33, and 34.

Casas (Don Fray Bartholomew de Las), a Dominican, bishop of Chiapa and afterwards of Cuzco, resigned his see to live in Spain; he was the defender of the right and liberty of the native Indians. He wrote several excellent works which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio. In one of these, he endeavours to prove that the kings have not the power of disposing of the property and liberty of their American subjects, and of giving them to other masters, either under a feodal tenure, or from a right of conquest. This work was denounced to the Inquisition as opposed to the declarations of St. Paul and St. Peter, concerning the submission of serfs and vassals to their lords. The author was much grieved when he heard that it was intended to prosecute him; but the council only required of him, in an official manner, the remittance of the work and the manuscript. It was afterwards printed several times in other countries, which is mentioned by M. Peignot in his Dictionnaire Critique, et Bibliographique des Livres remarquables qui ont été brulés, supprimées ou censurés. Casas died at Madrid in 1566 at the age of ninety-two. He had the pleasure of seeing another of his works in favour of the Americans approved by the censors, although it had been criticised by Juan Gines de Sepulveda. Charles V. ordered this writing to be suppressed, although it was favourable to the royal authority: he likewise made several ordinances in favour of the Americans, and if they had been executed, fewer reproaches would have been bestowed on the Spaniards who governed the new world.

Castillo (Fray Ferdinand del), a Dominican, and one of the most illustrious men of his order. He was implicated in the proceedings against the Lutherans at Valladolid in the year 1559. Fray Dominic de Roxas, Pedro Cazalla, and Don Carlos de Seso, wishing to prove that their opinions on justification were orthodox, declared that they were the same as those of Fray Ferdinand del Castillo, who was universally acknowledged to be eminent for virtue and wisdom; he had been a member of the College of St. Gregory at Valladolid; afterwards professor of philosophy and theology at Grenada: he was at this time a preacher of great eminence at Madrid. The three witnesses ratified their declarations on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of October, 1559; they were to be burnt on the 8th of the same month. Fortunately for Fray Ferdinand, the three witnesses had not positively asserted that he had maintained the doctrine of justification in the manner that they did, or in the same sense, but that he had expressed himself in such a manner that it might be supposed. Fray Ferdinand was ordered to repair to Valladolid, where he was confined in the College of St. Gregory, and was summoned to appear before the tribunal. He cleared himself from the charges brought against him, and even obtained a certificate of his acquittal, that his honour and reputation might not be affected. He returned to Madrid, where he was made a prior, and was afterwards sent to Medina with the same dignity; lastly he was appointed preacher to Philip II. This prince often consulted him on difficult affairs, and appointed him to accompany the Duke of Ossuna in his embassy to Lisbon. Castillo was one of those who took the greatest part in inducing the Cardinal King, Don Henry, to call Philip II. to succeed him on the throne of Portugal, and he was subsequently made preceptor to the infant Don Ferdinand. He wrote the history of the order of St. Dominic, a work which is much esteemed by the learned of the present day. Castillo died on the 29th of March, 1593: his life had been a model of austerity, and he fasted on bread and water three times a week.

Centeno (Fray Pedro), an Augustine monk. He was one of the most learned men of his order, and one of the most distinguished literati in Spain, during the reigns of Charles III. and Charles IV. Centeno incurred the hatred of all the monks, priests, and seculars, by his periodical work, entitled, The Universal Apologist for all unfortunate Authors. Centeno attacked the bad taste which predominated in literature, with the most delicate irony, so that the scholastic theologians, who knew nothing of good taste, dreaded to come under his examination. The ironical praise which he lavished on them, was more to be feared than his sharpest satire: his papers were universally read with pleasure, and his decisions generally adopted by his readers. The prejudices which prevailed in Spain did not fail to create him many enemies. He relied on the purity of his religious opinions, and the extent of his knowledge; but he was denounced at the holy office, and the denunciations were as different as the stations and characters of those who attacked him. He was accused of impiety (a crime then considered in Spain as equal to atheism, or materialism), at the same time that others accused him of being a Lutheran and a Jansenist. The great reputation enjoyed by the accused, the protection which the Count de Florida Blanca, first secretary of state, afforded him, the fear that hatred, envy and resentment had induced the accusers to invent calumnies, and the impossibility that Centeno could be at the same time an atheist and a Lutheran, prevented the tribunal from sending him to their dungeons; they therefore confined him in the Convent of St. Philip, where he dwelt, commanding him to appear before the tribunal when summoned. His great knowledge of doctrine enabled him to defend himself with advantage: if his discourse had been printed, his fame must have much increased by it; yet he was condemned as violently suspected of heresy, and was compelled to abjure and perform different penances. This treatment plunged Centeno into a profound melancholy, which alienated his reason; he died in this state in the convent of Arenas, where he was confined.

The principal accusations against him were, 1st. That he had disapproved of the Novenas, the rosaries, processions, stations, and other pious exercises. This charge was supported by a quotation from the funeral oration of a nobleman, in which he had said that beneficence was the favourite virtue of the deceased; that it was in the constant practice of it that true devotion consisted, and not in the mere exterior exercises of religion, which required neither care nor trouble, or any sacrifices of money, or other things. 2d. That he denied the existence of limboes, places destined to receive the souls of those who die before the age of reason, without receiving baptism: the argument brought to support this charge was the suppression of the question and answer on the article Limbo, which he had obliged the author of the Catechism to make. This work had been printed for the use of the charity-schools at Madrid, of which he had been appointed censor; the accused replied to the first accusation, by giving clear and perfect explanations, founded on the texts of Scripture and the Holy Fathers, and on the principles of true devotion: he proved the perfect connection of his defence with the expressions he had used in the sermon, of which he produced the original copy, as a proof of his innocence. On the second charge, he said that the existence of Limbus was not defined as an article of faith; that it ought not to be mentioned in a catechism, where, according to his opinion, nothing ought to be considered but doctrine; and that he had suppressed the question, that the Christians might not confound this subject which was still an object of discussion among the Catholics, with those already decided by the Church. He was formally summoned to declare whether he believed in the existence of Limbus; he replied that he was not obliged to answer, because it did not relate to an article of faith; but that as he had no motives to conceal his opinions, he would confess that he did not believe in the existence. He demanded permission to compose a theological treatise, in which he offered to demonstrate the truth of what he advanced, humbly submitting to the decisions of the Church: this permission being granted, he wrote an hundred and twenty pages in folio, in close lines, so that it would form an octavo volume. I had the curiosity to read it, and was astonished at his immense and profound erudition: this writing contains all that the Fathers and the great theologians have said since the time of Jesus Christ, particularly since St. Augustine, on the future lot of those who die without receiving baptism, and before they have committed any mortal sin. His defence could not save him. A barefooted Carmelite and a Minime were the principal qualifiers, who censured Centeno as violently suspected of heresy.

Cespedes (Doctor Paul de), born at Cordova, prebendary of the Cathedral of that city, and residing at Rome. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him in 1560, for some letters which he had written to Don Bartholomew Carranza, archbishop of Toledo, and which were found among the papers of that prelate, with the copies of his replies. In one of these letters dated from Rome, on the 17th of February, 1559, he gives him an account of his proceedings in his favour, and allowed himself to speak ill of the inquisitor-general and the Inquisition of Spain. Cespedes was a great literati, a great painter, and poet, and a very clever modeller in wax: he composed a poem, in stanzas of eight verses, on Repentance. Juan de Verzosa and Francis Pacheco (both mentioned with approbation by Nicholas Antonio) have highly praised this poem. Cespedes continued to reside at Rome, and thus the inquisitors of Valladolid could not execute their projects of vengeance.

Chumacero (Don Juan de). See the following Chapter.

Clavijo y Faxardo (Don Joseph de), principal director of the museum of natural history at Madrid, and a learned man, who had a great taste for science. The Inquisition of the Court tried him on the suspicion that he had adopted the antichristian principles of modern philosophy. He was confined to the city of Madrid, which was fortunate for him, as he thus preserved his honour and his office; he appeared privately before the tribunal, and was only condemned to private penances; he also made his abjuration, de levi, with closed doors, in the hall of the tribunal. It is true that the proofs against him were weak, and he gave to his propositions an air of Catholicism. He had lived for some time in Paris, where he had been intimate with Buffon and Voltaire. He edited a journal, called The Thinker. M. Langle, in his Travels in Spain, says, that this work is without merit; if this author judged truly, it would, perhaps, be the only truth in his book. Clavijo was appointed editor of the Mercury, by the government, he also published a translation of “Buffon’s Natural History,” with notes. As this book is written with great purity of style, and without gallicisms, it is an important acquisition to those who seek a work rich in the beauties of the Spanish language. The Count d’Aranda also gave him the direction of a company of tragic actors: Clavijo endeavoured to fulfil the intention of the minister, but religious fanaticism arrested the progress of the design.

Clement (Don Joseph), bishop of Barcelona. See the following Chapter.

Corpus Christi (Fray Mancio de), Dominican, doctor and professor of theology, in the university of Alcala de Henares. He was tried by the Inquisition of Valladolid for having given a favourable opinion of the Catechism of Carranza. On the 21st of February, 1559, he remitted those of the doctors of his university, who had carefully examined some propositions of a doubtful nature, and of which they acknowledged the orthodoxy. He escaped the dungeons, by retracting, at the request of Philip II. A brief of Gregory XIII. obliged him to restore the definitive sentence which he had passed on the Catechism and other works of Carranza, and in which he had condemned an hundred and thirty-one propositions of that prelate. On the 17th of October, 1559, he addressed a letter to the inquisitor-general, in which he asked pardon, and submitted to any penances which might be imposed on him.

Cruz (Father Louis de la), Dominican, disciple of Don Bartholomew Carranza de Miranda, a member of the college of St. Gregory, at Valladolid, and extremely well versed in doctrine and theology. He was imprisoned in the dungeons of the Inquisition at Valladolid, for being implicated in the affair of Cazalla and his companions. The quotations made by the friends of Cazalla from his works, created a suspicion that he was a Lutheran: it is true that he had held a regular correspondence with Carranza, and had given him his opinion of his Catechism. He was accused of having bribed the minister of the holy office to obtain information of his old master; but he vindicated himself by proving that he had acquired some knowledge of the affair, in his conversations with Melchior Cano, and with one of the condemned Lutherans whom he had exhorted. Fray Louis was arrested in the month of June, 1559, and on the 7th of August he drew up a writing of six pages, in which he made many confessions. He soon became subject to fits of insanity, owing to his anxious thoughts during his trial. In June, 1560, he was removed to the ecclesiastical prison of the bishop, that he might be taken care of. It was impossible to prove any of the charges against him, yet the Inquisition kept him in prison until Carranza was released. At last, after five years of captivity, he abjured, de levi, and was sentenced to a seclusion of a few years as a penance.

Cuesta (Don Andres de la). See Chapter 29.

Cuesta (Don Antonio de la), archdeacon of the cathedral of Avila. The Inquisition of Valladolid ordered him to be arrested in 1801, as suspected of Jansenism and heresy; but he fled to Paris, where he lived during the five years of his trial: it would have been much longer if government had not interposed, as will be seen in the following article.

Cuesta (Don Jerome de la), penitentiary canon of the cathedral of Avila. He was arrested for Jansenism, and heresy, while his brother Antonio was pursued, to whom he furnished the means of flight, at the expense of his own safety. He passed five years in the prisons of the Inquisition, and he would have been detained for a much longer time, but for the solicitations addressed to Charles IV., by persons of the highest rank, who obtained permission to cause the original writings of the trial to be laid before his majesty. Don Jerome proved that the prosecution of himself and his brother originated in the intrigues of Don Raphael de Muzquiz, bishop of Avila, and formerly confessor to the queen, and archbishop of Santiago, and of Don Vincent Soto de Valcarce, bishop of Valladolid. When the depositions of the witnesses were read to Don Jerome, his great penetration enabled him to recognise them, and he clearly proved their injustice. The archbishop of Santiago made many representations to the king against the two brothers, the Inquisitors of Valladolid, and some members of the Supreme Council; he did not even spare Don Ramon Joseph de Arce, archbishop of Saragossa, patriarch of the Indies, and inquisitor-general: he accused them all of partiality in favour of the two brothers, who were, besides, countrymen of the chief of the holy office. The tribunal of Valladolid pronounced Don Jerome innocent; the votes were divided in the council: the king then examined the writings, and declared, that, from the reports he had received, the two brothers were innocent of the crimes of which they were accused. He authorized Don Antonio to return to Spain, created him and his brother knights of the order of Charles III., and commanded the inquisitor-general to appoint them honorary inquisitors. Don Francisco de Salazar, bishop of Avila, (who in quality of Inquisitor of Valladolid, and member of the council, had taken a great part in this intrigue,) received an order from his majesty to reinstate the brothers in their stalls. This is one of the very rare instances, where the King of Spain took an active part in the affairs of the Inquisition, and one of the still more rare occurrences where innocence has triumphed.

Delgado (Don Francis), archbishop of Santiago. See Chapter 29.

Feyjoo (Benedict), Benedictine, born in the Asturias, and a distinguished literati. He was one of the first who restored good taste in Spain: the works which he has composed, have been enumerated by Don Juan Sempere y Guarinos in the Catalogue of the Authors who flourished during the Reign of Charles III. This learned man was denounced at the different tribunals of the Inquisition, as being suspected of the different heresies of the fifteenth century, and of that of the ancient Iconoclasts; most of his accusers were ignorant and prejudicial monks, of whom he had made enemies by the arguments in his Critical Theatre against false devotion, false miracles, and some superstitious customs. It was fortunate for the author that the council of the Inquisition was well acquainted with the purity of his principles and Catholicism. Although the progress of knowledge has been extremely slow in Spain, it must be confessed that it has even penetrated into the interior of the Holy House during the last part of the eighteenth century.

Fernandes (Juan), doctor of theology, prior of the cathedral of Palencia. He was prosecuted from the declarations of some Lutherans who were executed in 1559, particularly that of Fray Dominic de Roxas, who quoted several propositions of Fernandez, in which he pretended to find, especially on the subject of justification, the same opinions as his own. The fiscal presented Fray Dominic as a witness in the trial of Fernandez: he persisted in his declaration (he was already condemned to relaxation, but did not know it), and expected to be reconciled as a penitent. Fernandez, however, only received a reprimand for not having observed, in his discourse, the prudence which became a doctor of theology, at a period when heresy was so common in the kingdom.

Frago (Don Pedro), bishop of Jaca. See Chapter 29.

Gonzalo (Don Vitorian Lopez), bishop of Murcia. Ibid.

Gorrionereo (Don Antonio), bishop of Almeria. Ibid.

Guerrero (Don Pedro), archbishop of Grenada. Ibid.

Grenada (Fray Louis de). Ibid.

Gracian (Fray Jerome), Carmelite, born at Valladolid, and the son of Diego Gracian, secretary to Charles V., and Jane Dantisqui, daughter of the ambassador of Poland, at the court of the emperor. He was a doctor of theology, and professor of philosophy at the university of Alcala. He wrote several works of a mystical nature, and some others on literary subjects, which are mentioned by Nicolas Antonio. He was prior of a convent of barefooted Carmelites at Seville, which he founded when St. Theresa and her community, of whom he was the director, were attacked by the Inquisition. The tribunal of Seville prosecuted him as a heretic, of the sect of the Illuminati; but his trial failed for want of proof. Father Jerome experienced many vicissitudes; but as they have been related by historians it is unnecessary to mention them here.

Gudiel de Peralta. See the following Chapter.

Gonzalez (Gil), Jesuit, born at Toledo in 1532. He was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Valladolid, in 1559, for having begun a Latin translation of the Catechism of Carranza. When this prelate was informed that his work was to be translated into the language of theologians, he made some corrections in it, thinking it not sufficiently clear, and in July requested Gil Gonzalez to undertake the task. St. Francis de Borgia, having heard of the trial of the archbishop, commanded Gonzalez to communicate to the Inquisition all that he had been requested to do. He obeyed; and in August informed the inquisitor-general of the order he had received, and his promptitude in submitting to it. In September he renewed his declarations, gave up the Castilian copy of the Catechism, with the corrections of Carranza, and all that he had written of the translation. He thus escaped persecution, and died in peace at Madrid in 1596.

Illescas (Gonsalvo de). See Chapter 13.

Iriarte (Don Thomas), born in the island of Canary, master of the archives of the minister for foreign affairs, and of the first secretary of state, author of a poem on Music, a volume of Fables, and other poetical works. He was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Madrid, during the last years of the reign of Charles III., as suspected of professing the antichristian philosophy. He was confined to the city, and received an order to appear when he was summoned: the proceedings were private, and he replied in a satisfactory manner to the accusations, but the inquisitors did not think fit to acquit him; they declared him to be slightly suspected: he abjured and obtained absolution in private, the penance imposed was likewise private, and few persons knew that he had been tried. Don Thomas Iriarte had two brothers, one called Don Dominic, who concluded a treaty of peace with the French Republic at Basle; and the other, Don Bernard, counsellor of the Indies, and knight of the order of Charles III.

Isla (Francis de), Jesuit. He was the author of several works, during the reign of Charles III.; and also published, under a feigned name, the History of the famous Preacher Fray Gerund de Campazas otherwise called Zotes, written at Madrid in 1750 and 1770, by the Licentiate Don Francis Lobon de Salazar. This work is a fine satire, in two volumes, against the preachers who make a bad use of texts by quoting them in the wrong place, and distorting their meaning to support an extravagant proposition. This work produced very beneficial effects in Spain; all the preachers dreaded the epithet of Fray Gerund. This fictitious hero might be called the Don Quixote of the pulpit, since the effects of this romance were the same as those of Don Quixote de la Mancha, which was intended to cure the Spaniards of their ridiculous mania for books of chivalry. The monks united against this work; they declared it to be impious, injurious to the ecclesiastical state, and the author suspected of all the heresies of those who speak with contempt of mendicant friars. The holy office received an infinite number of denunciations against this work. The qualifiers were of opinion that it ought to be prohibited, because the author, in ridiculing those who made a bad use of the sacred text, had fallen into the same error in composing the sermons preached by his hero. These volumes were consequently forbidden, but a publisher at Bayonne reprinted them with a third volume composed of the different essays which had appeared in Spain, either for or against the history of Fray Gerund. The true author did not put his name to the work, but he was known, and the Inquisition having arrested him, reproached him for what he had done. Isla alleged his laudable intention of correcting the defects which had been introduced into the pulpit by bad preachers, and the affair finished there. The Jesuits at that time had still some power at Madrid, and many of their society were judges of the holy office.

Jesus (St. Theresa de). See Chapter 27.

Jovellanos. See Chapter 43.

Joven de Salas (Don Joseph Ignacio), born in one of the towns of the Pyrenees, advocate to the king’s councils, and a very learned man. He was chosen by several grandees of Spain to defend the right of their families to the succession of the elder branches, and for other interesting trials. He was denounced to the Inquisition for having read prohibited books: the inquest did not furnish sufficient proof to authorize imprisonment. His aversion for popular commotions, his love for social order, the absence of all the royal family, and the impossibility of resisting the invasion, induced him in 1808 to submit to the conqueror. The great merit of Joven obtained him the office of a counsellor of state under King Joseph: for this reason the political inquisitors who surround the throne of Ferdinand VII. induced him to banish this respectable old man, who lives at Bordeaux full of years and virtues.

Lainez (Diego). See Chapter 29.

Laplana (Don Joseph), bishop of Tarrazona. Ibid.

Lara (Don Juan Perez de). See the following Chapter.

Lebrija (Antonio de). See Chapter 10.

Ledesma (Fray Juan de), Dominican, professor of theology in the college of St. Peter Martyr, at Toledo. He was tried by the Inquisition of Valladolid in 1559, for having expressed a favourable opinion of the Catechism of Carranza; the proceedings were transferred to the tribunal of Toledo, which continued the trial without imprisoning Fray Juan, who was only confined to his college. Fray Juan declared that he had not perceived the heresies in Carranza’s work, for that relying on the learning, virtue, and zeal of the author, he had read it without examining it particularly; he added, that as he had not fallen into any error knowingly, which he acknowledged as such, he abided by the censures of the qualifiers. He abjured de levi; a small private canonical penance was imposed on him to be performed in secret, and he received the absolution ad cautelam.

Leon (Fray Louis de), an Augustine. He was born in 1527, of Lope de Belmonte, a judge and member of the chancery of Grenada, and of Donna Inez de Valera, his wife. He distinguished himself by the purity of his language and the beauty of his verses, which are looked upon as models of elegance. He took the monastic habit at Salamanca in 1544. His discernment was very great, and his knowledge of theology was so profound, that he was not surpassed by any of his contemporaries, and had very few rivals. He understood the Greek and Hebrew languages sufficiently to read them, and wrote Latin with peculiar elegance. He composed several works in verse and prose, which are mentioned by Nicolas Antonio. Experience has shown that it is impossible to possess superior talents without exciting envy; it is not therefore surprising that he was denounced to the holy office of Valladolid as being suspected of Lutheranism, at the time that he was professor of theology at Salamanca. Although he was innocent, he was kept in prison for five years. The solitude in which he lived during this period was so painful to him, that he could not help commemorating it in one of his works, taking for his text the 26th Psalm. Having been acquitted, he resumed his professorship; but his long captivity, the inaction in which he had lived, and his grief at being dishonoured, had considerably injured his health. He however had still sufficient strength to compose, in 1558, rules for the use of his order. He died at Madrid on the 23rd of August, 1591, during the chapter of which he was named vicar-general.

Lerma (Pedro de), doctor, professor of theology and first chancellor of the university of Alcala. He was very learned in the oriental languages, which he had studied at Paris, where he had obtained the degree of Doctor in Theology: he was also one of the Junta convoked at Valladolid in 1527, by the inquisitor-general Manrique, to examine the works of Erasmus. He endeavoured to revive good taste in ecclesiastical literature in the university of Alcala, exhorting every one to take their opinions from the ancient sources. The scholastic theologians who did not understand the oriental languages, and who were accustomed to read the councils and the Holy Fathers only in the quotations of other authors, adopted the usual resource of the envious; they denounced him to the Inquisition of Toledo as suspected of Lutheranism. Pedro, being informed that he would be arrested, fled to Paris, where he died dean of the doctors of the Sorbonne, and professor of theology in that school.

Ludeña (Fray Juan). See Chapter 29.

Linacero (Don Michael Raymond), canon of Toledo, preceptor of the archbishop of that city, the Cardinal de Bourbon. In 1768 he received an admonition from the holy office, while he was only curé of Ugena, because he had in his possession the Ecclesiastical History written by Racine. This work had not yet been prohibited; but an order of the king forbade any person to read it, and the inquisitors compelled Linacero to give it up. After the king’s death the tribunal prohibited this work as infected with Jansenism.

Melendez Valdéz (Don Juan), a native of Estremadura; after having been a professor at Salamanca, he was appointed judge of the royal court of appeal at Valladolid, by Charles III. Charles IV. promoted him to the office of the king’s attorney in the royal Council of Castile, the chamber of the alcades of the royal house and of the Court of Madrid. He was the Spanish Anacreon of the nineteenth century, and the fame of his odes will last while good poetry is made. One of these gave rise to several denunciations in 1796, and Melendez was accused of conversing like a man who had read prohibited books, such as Filangieri, Puffendorf, Grotius, Rousseau, Montesquieu, and others. This attack failed from want of proof. In 1808 Melendez was barbarously treated by assassins of the same description as those who massacred the Marquis de Perales and the intendant Truxillo, at Madrid; the Marquis del Socorro, at Cadiz; the Count del Aguila, at Seville; the Count de Torre del Fresno, at Badajoz, and many distinguished Spaniards in other places. Melendez survived almost by a miracle, and sought safety in the French army. King Joseph appointed him a counsellor of state. Melendez accepted the place for the same reasons as Joven de Salas; he afterwards incurred the same fate, and died at Montpelier in 1817. The Mercury of France and the other Parisian journals have published his panegyric. I shall therefore only add that at Valladolid in 1788 he gave me a small poem of his own composition to read; it was called The Magistrate. When the second edition of his poems appeared, this poem was inserted, and on my inquiring the reason, he gave me the following account of it. “As I was always much occupied in composing poetry, even after I was appointed judge of the royal court of appeal, some of my colleagues harshly censured my conduct, saying that the composition of lyric and amatory verses was very unbecoming the dignity of the magistracy: one of them said maliciously, that I might perhaps know what a troubadour was, but not what a magistrate should be. I then composed this poem, and intended to publish it, but afterwards changed my mind, that it might not occasion a suspicion that I wished to revenge myself.” This poem, in my opinion, has much merit, and I hope it will be included in the first edition of the poems of Melendez.

Macanaz, (Don Melchior de). See the following Chapter.

Mariana (Juan de), Jesuit. He was a natural son of Juan Martinez de Mariana, afterwards canon and dean of the college of Talavera de la Reyna, where Mariana was born in 1536. When he had finished his studies at Alcala, and had become well skilled in the oriental tongues and in theology, he quitted Spain to travel in foreign countries: he professed theology in Rome, Sicily, and at Paris. When he returned he wrote his history of Spain, and was often consulted by the government in affairs of a difficult and delicate nature. He was chosen as an arbitrator in the great question concerning the royal Polyglott Bible of Antwerp, and, contrary to the wishes and intrigues of his brethren, he decided in favour of Benedict Arias Montanus. In 1583 he was commissioned to form an Index, in which he left out the work of St. Francis Borgia. The Jesuits, who are not accustomed to forgive such conduct, did not afterwards treat him with the consideration to which he was entitled. He proved the vices of the government of their society in a work called, Of the Maladies of the Society of Jesus. This work was not published till after the death of the author; but his brethren were acquainted with some parts of it, which increased their hatred towards him. In 1599 he published and dedicated to Philip III. his treatise de Rege et Regis institutione, which was burnt at Paris by the common executioner. He also published in 1609, seven treatises in one folio volume, one of them is on the Exchange of Money, and another on Death and Immortality. These works exposed him to prosecutions from the government and the holy office. I have read his defence, and the doctrine he professed is so pure and solid, that I am persuaded it would be favourably received if it was printed. The sentence of the king was more lenient than he could have expected, after having, in his dedication to that monarch, shown himself the advocate of the regicide, disguised under the name of the tyrannicide. He did not escape so well from the inquisitors: they made some retrenchments in his work on the Exchange of Money, and it was prohibited until he had been punished. A penance was imposed on the author, and he was confined a long time in his college. He died at Toledo in 1623, at the age of eighty-seven. Nicholas Antonio mentions other works by the same author. In the Dictionnaire of Peignot there are some details which might be interesting to a literary person.

Medina (Fray Michel de). See Chapter 29.

Meneses (Fray Philip de), Dominican, and professor of theology at Alcala de Henares; he gave a favourable opinion of the Catechism of Carranza. The Inquisition of Toledo received from that of Valladolid the writings of his trial, summoned Fray Philip, and condemned him to the same punishment as Fray Juan de Ludeña.

Merida (Pedro de), canon of Palencia: he was commissioned by Carranza to take possession of the see of Toledo in his name, and administer to the archbishopric. He was mentioned by Pedro Cazalla and others, as partaking their sentiments on the subject of justification. He corresponded with Carranza, and in his trial the Inquisition took advantage of several letters in which he spoke ill of the holy office. He was arrested at Valladolid, abjured de levi, was subjected to a penance and a pecuniary penalty.

Moñino (Don Joseph). See the following Chapter.

Molina (Don Michel de), bishop of Albaracin. See Chapter 29.

Montanus (Benedict Arias). Ibid.

Montemayor (Prudencio de), Jesuit, born at Ceniecros, in Rioja, and professor of theology at Salamanca. He composed several works, which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him on suspicion of Pelagianism, arising from some theological conclusions which he maintained and printed in 1600. He defended himself, and explained what he had advanced like a true Catholic. The inquisitors ceased to prosecute him personally, but they prohibited his conclusions. The Jesuits have always been reproached with their adherence to the system of the heresiarch Pelagius, on the subject of grace and free-will. Montemayor afterwards endeavoured to vindicate his honour and that of his order, in a discourse, entitled A Reply to the Five Calumnies invented against the Society of Jesus, and promulgated in the City of Salamanca. He died in that city in 1641, at a very advanced age.

Montijo (Donna Maria-Frances Portocarrero, Countess of), a grandee of Spain: she deserves a distinguished rank among the literati of Spain. Her claims to celebrity are not only supported by her translation of the Christian Instructions on the Sacrament of Marriage, by M. Le Tourneux, but by her great love for good literature, and by her efforts to render the taste for it more common. Her amiable and benevolent character made her house a favourite resort for many virtuous and enlightened ecclesiastics: among these may be distinguished Don Antonio de Palafox, bishop of Cuença, and brother-in-law to the Countess; Don Antonio de Tabira, bishop of Salamanca; Don Joseph de Jeregui, preceptor to the Infants of Spain; Don Juan Antonio Rodrigalvarez, archdeacon of Cuença; Don Juaquin Ivarra, and Don Antonio de Posada, canon of St. Isidore at Madrid. All these ecclesiastics, and the Countess herself, were the victims of the calumnies of fanatical priests and monks, who were the partisans of the Jesuits and of their maxims on discipline and morals; they were accused of Jansenism. The hatred of their enemies was so great, that Don Balthazar Calvo, Canon of St. Isidore, and Fray Antonio de Guerrero, a Dominican, declared in the pulpit, that there existed in one of the first houses in the capital a conventicle of Jansenists, protected by a lady of distinction: they took care to speak of her in such a manner that the person could not be mistaken. The nuncio of the Court of Rome informed the Pope of all these circumstances, and his Holiness immediately addressed letters of thanks to these two preachers and some other individuals, for the zeal they had shown in defending the faith. These letters were, in a manner, the signal for a denunciation against all persons suspected of Jansenism, and did not fail to produce that effect. Besides the suspicion of Jansenism, the Countess of Montijo was accused of holding a religious and literary correspondence with Monsignor Henri Gregoire, then bishop of Blois, and one of the most Catholic and learned men in France, a Member of the Institute, and author of several works, one of which was a Letter to the Inquisitor-general of Spain, in which he invites him to propose the suppression of the Inquisition of which he is the head. The accusers supposed Monsignor Gregoire to be the head of the Jansenists in France; but they concealed the fact that this bishop had several times exposed himself to death to give the victims of the revolution the last spiritual aid, and to maintain the Catholic religion when Robespierre endeavoured to destroy it. The accusers, who dwelt upon the mention which had been made of the Countess in the national council of France, held by the bishops who had taken the oaths, and of which Monsignor Gregoire was a member. The inquisitors received secret informations of this affair; but no facts or heretical propositions were proved, and they had not courage to issue the orders for an arrest. The rank and birth of the accused gave them the means of putting an end to the persecution: a sort of court intrigue, however, caused the Countess to be sent from Madrid. She retired to Logroño, where she died in 1808, with the reputation of being virtuous, and charitable to the poor.

Mur (Don Joseph de). See following Chapter.

Olavide (Don Paul). Ibid.

Palafox y Mendoza (Don Juan de). See Chapter 30.

Palafox (Don Antonio de), bishop of Cuença. He was prosecuted by the Inquisition of Madrid on suspicion of Jansenism, but his trial did not proceed further than the preparatory instruction, as nothing but conjectures could be brought against him. He was tried at the same time with his sister-in-law, the Countess de Montijo. This prelate made a learned and energetic representation to the king, in which he proved that the ex-jesuits who had returned to Spain were the authors of the prosecutions against himself and his friends; and they left nothing undone to ruin those who were not of their party.

Pedroche (Fray Thomas de), Dominican, and a professor at Toledo; he gave a favourable opinion of the Catechism of Carranza, and received the same treatment as Fray Juan de Ledesma.

Peña (Fray Juan de la), Dominican, director of the studies of the college of St. Gregory at Valladolid, and a professor of Salamanca. In 1558 he gave a favourable opinion of the Catechism of Carranza. He was summoned by the inquisitors on the 15th of March, 1559, to qualify twenty propositions of an author whose name they concealed from him; on the 5th of April following, he gave his reply, containing nineteen pages of writing. He declared that the propositions were Catholic; that some of them were ambiguous, which might cause them to be considered as tending to Lutheranism, but that it did not appear that the author had advanced them with any bad intention. The Archbishop Carranza, being thrown into prison on the 22nd of August in the same year, De la Peña became alarmed, and wrote to the Inquisition, saying, that he had been intimate with that prelate, because he believed him to be a good Catholic; that this reason had also prevented him from denouncing a favourable opinion which he had expressed of one Don Carlos de Seso, one of the Lutherans who were tried in this year; that Carranza had not condemned him, because he did not think him an heretic, although he had advanced propositions which were tinctured with Lutheranism. De la Peña added, that, seeing the archbishop arrested, he had confessed this, lest his silence might be construed into a crime. His precaution was unavailing. De la Peña appeared guilty, from the opinion he had given of the Catechism, and two other accusations were brought against him: the first was, that he had said that there was no foundation for denouncing the proposition of Carranza, which states, that it is not yet decided if faith was lost in committing a mortal sin; the second, that he had asserted when the archbishop was arrested, that even if he was an heretic, the holy office ought to overlook it, lest the Lutherans in Holland should acknowledge him as a martyr, which they had already done to several individuals who had been punished. De la Peña’s reply displeased the inquisitors; they sharply reproved him, condemned him to several penances, and commanded him to be more cautious for the future.

Perez (Antonio), secretary of state. See Chapter 35.

Quiros (Don Joseph), priest, advocate to the king’s council at Madrid. Being informed of the persecution of Belando by the Inquisition, on account of his Civil History of Spain, he drew up a writing, in which he endeavoured to prove that the inquisitors ought to have examined the author before they condemned his work. This liberty cost him dear; although he was seventy years old, and his legs swelled continually, he was sent to the secret prisons, and as if this was not sufficient, he was kept during the months of February and March in a cold, damp chamber, where he was obliged to endure all the rigour of the season, and nearly sunk under it. Philip V. was at last informed of the state to which Quiros was reduced, and he obtained his liberty after forty-four days of suffering, on the condition of never again writing on the affairs of the Inquisition, unless he wished to experience greater severity.

Ramos del Manzano (Don Francis). See following Chapter.

Regla (Fray Juan de). See Chapter 29.

Ricardos (Don Antonio), Count de Trullas in his own right, and of Torrepalma in that of his wife and cousin; captain-general of the royal armies, and commander-in-chief of that of Roussillon against the French republic in the years 1793 and 1794. He was suspected of being an esprit fort, or an incredulous philosopher, and the dean of the inquisitors invited him to attend the auto-da-fé of Don Paul de Olavide; they thought that he might consider some of the declarations as relating to himself, though his name was not mentioned, particularly as he had been very intimate with Olavide, and their religious sentiments were very similar on some points. This was the only mortification which the Inquisition could inflict upon Ricardos, as they had not sufficient proof to authorize a prosecution.

Ripalda (Jerome de), Jesuit, born at Teruel in Aragon towards the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth. He was one of the most learned theologians of his order; he professed theology, and wrote two Treatises, one mystic and the other on Christian Doctrine, which has been used by the schools for near a century, with the exception of some alterations which have been made in the new editions of his Catechism. Nicholas Antonio says that he died, with the reputation of being a saint, in 1618, aged eighty-four. He had been for some time director to St. Theresa de Jesus. It is possible that the forty-four last years of Ripalda’s life may have been exemplary, but the impartiality of an historian compels me to say, that Jerome Ripalda was tried by the Inquisition of Valladolid as an illuminati, or quietist, and tinctured with the heresy of Molinos; that he confessed some of the charges, asked pardon, and implored his judges to be merciful; and that a penance was imposed on him in 1574, as being suspected de vehementi. The sincere repentance which he showed induced the inquisitor-general, Quiroga, to shorten the duration of his penance; I must add that the purity of Ripalda’s faith and morals after this event were such as to render him worthy of the esteem and respect of mankind.

Ribera (Don Juan de). See Chapter 30.

Roda (Don Manuel de). See following Chapter.

Rodrigalvarez (Don Juan Antonio), priest, canon of St. Isidore at Madrid, afterwards archdeacon of Cuença, and provisor and vicar-general of that diocese; he wrote several historical works. Rodrigalvarez was implicated in the denunciation of Don Balthazar Calvo, his colleague, who, giving way to personal considerations, and instigated by the ex-jesuits lately arrived from Italy, inflicted such cruel mortifications on Rodrigalvarez and Posada his colleague, that they were obliged to complain to the Prince of Peace, and to implore his assistance. The trial begun by the Inquisition did not furnish sufficient proof of their guilt, and it was not continued. The trials of Don Antonio Posada, and Don Juaquin Ibarra, mentioned in the article Montijo, finished in the same manner.

Roman (Fray Jerome), an Augustine, born at Logroño. He was very learned in the oriental languages, and directed his attention towards the study of sacred and profane history. In prosecuting this design, he travelled over a great part of Europe, examining the different archives, and making extracts of all that appeared likely to increase the success of the great works which he had projected. Being appointed historian to his order, he published the history of it from the year 1569; in it he gives an account of the lives of the saints and illustrious men who had belonged to it, with many interesting details. His wish to publish the historical facts which he had collected during his travels, induced him to write a book called the Republics of the World; in this work he treats very learnedly of the ancient and modern republics: it was printed at Medina del Campo, in 1575, and again in 1595 at Salamanca. Unfortunately for the author, it contained several truths which displeased some persons powerful enough to injure him; he experienced some persecution, and the Inquisition of Valladolid reprimanded him, and ordered his work to be corrected. He died in 1597, leaving some MSS. which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio.

Salazar (Fray Ambrose de), Dominican, and professor of theology at Salamanca. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him in 1559, on two accusations: the first was founded on the declarations of Fray Dominic de Roxas and Fray Louis de la Cruz, during their imprisonment: they imputed to Fray Ambrose some propositions which tended to Lutheranism; the second charge was founded on the favourable opinion which he had given of the Catechism of Carranza. The trial was not continued, on account of the death of Fray Ambrose in 1560, in the thirty-eighth year of his age: it was supposed that fear, and his imprisonment in the holy office, where Carranza was detained, hastened his death. He left, in order to be printed, some Commentaries on the first part of the Sum of St. Thomas.

Salas (Don Ramon de), born at Belchite in Aragon, was a professor at Salamanca, and one of its greatest literati: he was prosecuted in 1796 by the Inquisition of Madrid, on suspicion of having adopted the principles of the modern philosophers, Voltaire, Rousseau, and others, whose works he had read. He acknowledged that he was acquainted with their works, but added that he had only read them in order to refute them, which he had done in several public theses, maintained at Salamanca by some of his pupils, under his direction. All these theses were introduced in the trial. He replied in a satisfactory manner to all the allegations, and the qualifiers did not find anything in his writings which deserved theological censure. The judges not only acquitted him, but on being informed that Father Poveda, a Dominican, had intrigued against him, thought that he had a right to a public reparation. On the 22nd of October, in the same year, they sent their sentence and the writings of the trial, together with the considerations and the points of doctrine on which they were founded, to the Supreme Council, at the same time expressing their opinion on the right of Salas to a reparation.

Father Poveda, by his intrigues, caused the trial to be sent back to the inquisitors, with an order to make fresh inquiries, which was done, but the qualifiers and judges persisted in their first sentence. The intrigues again began in the council, which returned the trial to the Inquisition a second time, with an order to make another inquest extraordinary: a third qualification, and a third sentence were the result, confirming the innocence of Salas. This was not what was intended; the accused had a powerful enemy in the council: this was Don Philip Vallejo, archbishop of Santiago, and governor of the Council of Castile; he had been inimical to Salas, from having had certain literary discussions with him at the university of Salamanca, when he was bishop of that see. The trial was suspended, to afford time for the archbishop to procure new denunciations, to add to those he had already obtained. Salas requested that his imprisonment might be ameliorated, and that he might only be confined to the city of Madrid. The council refused this favour; he then demanded permission to apply to the king, but this was also refused. He was at last condemned to abjure de levi; received the absolution and censures ad cautelam; and was banished from the capital. He retired to Guadalaxara, and there complained to his sovereign of the injustice of the Council of the Inquisition. Charles IV. ordered the writings of the trial to be sent to his minister of justice. Cardinal de Lorenzana, inquisitor-general, endeavoured to prevent it, but his efforts were ineffectual. When the affair was examined by the minister, the intrigue was discovered, and a resolution was formed to expedite a royal ordinance, forbidding the inquisitors to arrest any individual for the future, without first informing the king of their intention. The decree was drawn up by Don Eugene Llaguno, minister of justice, and he presented it to his majesty for signature; the king told him that it must first be shown to the Prince of Peace, as he had taken part in the deliberation, and would see if it was properly drawn up. Unfortunately for mankind, this delay of one day gave Vallejo time to renew his intrigues, so that the Prince of Peace changed his mind, and the royal decree was so different from what was expected, that the affair was ordered to be left in the same state.

San Ambrosio (Fray Ferdinand de), Dominican; he was a learned man, and well skilled in the conduct of affairs. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him in 1559: he was accused of having taken measures in favour of Carranza; of having profited by his sojourn at Rome in the same year, to prejudice his Holiness against the tribunal, to engage him to cause the trial to be transferred to Rome, and not to allow the archbishop to be arrested. The prosecutions soon ceased, because the accused remained at Rome.

Saloedo. See following Chapter.

Salgado. Ibid.

Samaniego (Don Felix-Maria de), lord of the town of Arraya, and an inhabitant of Laguardia in the province of Alava. He composed some fables and lyric poems of great merit, and was one of the greatest Spanish literati, during the reign of Charles IV. The Inquisition of Logroño prosecuted him, on suspicion of having embraced the errors of the modern philosophers, and of having read prohibited books. He was on the point of being arrested, when, discovering it by chance, he immediately set off for Madrid, where Don Eugene Llaguno, the minister of justice, and his friend and countryman, privately arranged his affairs with the inquisitor-general.

Samaniego (Don Philip). See following Chapter.

Santo Domingo (Fray Antonio de), Dominican, rector of the college of St. Gregory at Valladolid, was prosecuted by the Inquisition of that city in 1559 and 1560. The proceeding was founded on several accusations; in 1558, he had approved of some reprehensible propositions in the Catechism of Carranza: he was also accused of having said in 1559, that the arrest of this prelate was as unjust as that of Jesus Christ; that the prosecutions of the tribunal were of the same character; that Fray Melchior Cano ought to die first, because he was the most guilty; and that his death would be as agreeable to God as the sacrifice of mass. The accused was imprisoned, and a penance was imposed on him.

Santa Maria (Fray Juan de), barefooted Franciscan, and confessor to the Infanta Maria-Anne of Austria, Empress of Germany, and daughter to Philip IV. In 1616 he published a work called Christian Republics and Politics, which he dedicated to Philip III. Having occasion to say in this work that the Pope Zachariah had deposed Childeric, King of France, and crowned Pepin in his place, he added; “It is from this time that we date the right which the Popes have arrogated to themselves of deposing and establishing kings.” The Inquisition receiving information of it, reprimanded the author, and altered the sentence as follows: “It is from this time that the Popes have made use of their right of deposing and establishing kings.”

Sese (Don Joseph de). See following Chapter.

Siguenza (Fr. Joseph de), Jeronimite of the Convent of the Escurial; he was born in the town of that name. He was one of the most learned men of the reigns of Philip II., and Philip III., and well versed in history and the oriental languages. In 1595 he published the life of St. Jerome, and in 1600, a history of his order. He experienced much persecution, because he was one of the best preachers of his time, and the most esteemed by the king. The other monks (whose sermons were not so well received) denounced him to the Inquisition of Toledo, as suspected of Lutheranism. He remained in seclusion for nearly a year, in the monastery of La Sisla, belonging to his order, and he was obliged to appear before the tribunal whenever he was summoned. He justified himself, was acquitted, and died the superior of the convent of the Escurial.

Sobanos. See Chapter 26.

Solorzano. See following Chapter.

Soto (Fray Dominic). See Chapter 29.

Soto (Fray Pedro). Ibid.

Sotomayor (Fray Pedro), Dominican; he was one of those who, in 1558, approved the Catechism of Carranza. The Inquisition of Valladolid tried him in 1559, on the suspicion that he was tinctured with some heretical sentiments attributed to the archbishop; he was confined in the Convent of St. Paul, and afterwards severely reprimanded. He did not suffer any other punishment, because he declared (like all the others), that his confidence in the virtue and great learning of the author of the Catechism had induced him to act without any bad intention.

Tabira (Don Antonio), bishop of Salamanca, knight of the order of St. James, almoner and preacher to the king, and the author of several unpublished works: his great virtue, his literary talent and exquisite judgment, made him the ornament of the church during the reigns of Charles III. and Charles IV. The government consulted him several times on affairs of the greatest importance, and his opinions deserved the approbation of enlightened men: his sermons passed in Spain for the best which the age had produced. In 1809, I published the reply of this prelate to a consultation addressed to him in 1799, concerning the validity of marriages contracted before the civil authority, as in France. The piety and erudition of Tabira are displayed in this writing. It was impossible that the ex-jesuits should not employ the influence of their party to persecute a prelate who gave the preference to a decision given by the church legally assembled in a general council, to a bull expedited by its chief. Calvo, Guerrero, and other Jesuits of the short robe, attacked Tabira as a Jansenist; they denounced him to the holy office, but did not succeed in their attempt, since they could not impute to him any fact tending to heresy.

Talavera (Don Ferdinand de), first archbishop of Grenada. See Chapter 10.

Tobar (Bernardine de). See Chapter 14.

Tordesillas (Fray Francis de), Dominican, member of the college of St. Gregory of Valladolid, and pupil of Carranza: he was a learned theologian. Tordesillas was imprisoned a short time after his master, on the suspicion that he entertained the same opinions. He appears to have justified this suspicion, by the care which he took to copy all his treatises on theology, and other works. He abjured de levi, submitted to a penance, and was obliged to relinquish giving lessons on theology.

Tormo (Don Gabriel de), bishop of Orihuela. See Chapter 26.

Urquijo (Don Marianno Louis de), secretary of state under Charles IV. See Chapter 43.

Valdés (Juan de), author of some works which are mentioned by Nicolas Antonio; one of them, the Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, is prohibited in the Index. He was tried on account of this treatise and another, which was found among the papers of Carranza, and which was at first supposed to be his composition; this work is called Thoughts on the Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures. Valdés also composed another called Acharo; all these works were noted as being Lutheran, and the author was declared to be a formal heretic. Valdés left Spain, and thus escaped imprisonment. In 1559, Fray Louis de la Cruz, a prisoner in the Inquisition of Valladolid, declared that Valdés was living at Naples; that his Thoughts, &c. had been sent twenty years before to Carranza, in the form of a letter, but that it had its origin in the Christian Institutions of Thaulero. Fray Dominic de Roxas (another prisoner in the Inquisition) spoke of this Valdés as if he was the secretary of Charles V.; if that was the case, he must be called Juan Alonzo de Valdés. Nicolas Antonio mentions him as a different person in his Bibliothèque.

Vergara (Juan de). See Chapter 14.

Vicente (Doctor Don Gregory de), priest and professor of philosophy at Valladolid. The tribunal of this city tried and imprisoned him in 1801, for some theses which had been maintained and printed in Spanish, on the manner of studying, examining, and defending true religion. He abjured naturalism publicly in a lesser auto-da-fé, and several penances were imposed on him. His theses appear to be orthodox, if they are understood literally. The masters of scholastic theology declared against Vicente, because he had attacked the manner of teaching and studying religion practised in his time; he was also accused of having preached against the pious exercises of devotion. The sermon which was the origin of this accusation was severely examined, and it was found that he had said, that true devotion consists in the actual practice of virtue, and not in exterior ceremonies; his theses were publicly condemned, and he was detained in prison for eight years. He was nephew to an inquisitor of Santiago, which induced those of Valladolid to pronounce him to be insane, in order to save him; but when he returned home he gave such unequivocal proofs of being in his senses, that the inquisitors thought the honour of the tribunal would not allow the affair to be left in this state, and again arrested him. He had been in the prison more than a year when the auto-da-fé was celebrated.

Villagarcia (Fray Juan), Dominican, a pupil of Carranza, and his companion during his travels in Germany, England, and Flanders. He was one of the greatest theologians of his age. His arrest took place at Medemblick, in Flanders, at the same time as that of the Archbishop of Torrelaguna, in Spain. He was imprisoned at Valladolid, on the 19th of September, 1559. Several letters were found among his papers, and those of the archbishop, from Fray Louis de la Cruz, and Fray Francis de Tordesillas, in which they gave an account of all that they could learn concerning the trial of the archbishop. The same errors were imputed to Villagarcia as to Carranza, principally because he had copied part of the prelate’s MS. works. Some person having told him that Carranza’s Catechism would be better in Latin than in the vulgar tongue, he occupied himself in translating it, during his stay in England. This was the source of another accusation, and a consultation took place to decide if he ought not to receive the question in caput alienum, in order to make him confess certain facts brought against the archbishop, but without any proof concerning his having read the works of Œcolampadius and other prohibited books. The opinions were different, and the council decreed, that Villagarcia should first be formally examined on some other propositions. His replies were so favourable to the archbishop, that he could not have answered more conclusively for himself. Villagarcia remained four years in prison; he abjured, and was subjected to several penances, one of which was, never again to teach or write on theology.

Villalba (Fray Francis de). See Chapter 29.

Villegas (Alphonso de). See Chapter 13.

Virues (Don Alphonso de). See Chapter 14.

Yeregui (Don Joseph de), secular priest, doctor of theology and canon law, born at Vergara de Guipuzcoa: he was preceptor to the infants Don Gabriel and Don Antonio de Bourbon, and knight of the royal order of Charles III. He published a good catechism, and was denounced three times to the Inquisition of Madrid, on suspicion of being a Jansenist. In 1792, he was commanded not to go out of the city of Madrid. He lived in this kind of captivity for six months, and was then acquitted by the inquisitors of the court. Unfortunately he had enemies in the Supreme Council, who wished to order the trial to be suspended, and they would have succeeded if the inquisitor-general, Rubin de Cevallos, had not died at that time. His successor, Don Manuel Abady-la-Sierra, archbishop of Selimbria, professed the same opinions as Yeregui, who at last received a certificate of absolution, and regained his liberty; the king then appointed him to be an honorary inquisitor. Yeregui in his new office incurred other inconveniences, because he had spoken to his friends of the circumstances of his trial, which was interpreted as a sign of contempt for the holy office, which always enjoins secrecy to those who appear before it. Yeregui however apologized, and refuted all that had been published concerning his opinions of the Inquisition.

Zeballos (Jerome de), native of Escalona; he was a professor in the university of Salamanca, and a member of the municipality of Toledo. In 1609 he published at Rome a volume in folio, containing several treatises on jurisprudence; the first is a Discourse on the principal Reasons of the King of Spain and his Council, for taking Cognizance of Ecclesiastical Trials, or Trials between Ecclesiastics, when a Writ of Error is brought in. Among the questions which he discusses, is the following: “Is an ecclesiastical judge permitted to arrest and imprison laymen in a trial on canonical affairs, without the intervention of the royal judge?” The same author published at Salamanca, in 1613, another volume in folio, entitled, Of the Cognizance of Ecclesiastical Trials, between Ecclesiastics, when an Appeal is made by one of the Parties to the Royal Authority. He wrote some other works recorded by Nicolas Antonio. Some priests, who thought it heresy to defend the privileges of the king against the power of the clergy, denounced Zeballos to the Inquisition of Toledo. The members of this tribunal did not arrest him, but sent him the heads of the accusations against the two works already mentioned; he justified himself completely, and they were permitted to be in circulation. Some time after the Inquisition of Rome placed them on its Index, and that of Spain suppressed some passages, which are not found in the modern editions.

This list might have been augmented by the names of many less distinguished men, and I did not think it necessary to include those Spaniards whose works have been prohibited, but who were not personally attacked by the holy office. Those already mentioned are sufficient to show the danger of attempting to introduce the taste for good literature in Spain.

Charles III., wishing to be made acquainted with the affairs of the Jesuits, and some other circumstances relating to them, assembled a council in 1768, composed of five archbishops and bishops; they were occupied in consulting upon the tribunal of the Inquisition, and particularly of the prohibition of books. Don Joseph Moñino, Count de Florida-Blanca, and Don Pedro Rodriguez de Campomanes, Count de Campomanes, the king’s procurators in the Council of Castile, made a report to the assembly. Some extracts from it will be interesting in this part of the history.

Speaking of the clandestine introduction of a brief relating to the Jesuits on the 16th of April, 1767, and of another concerning the affairs of the Duke of Parma, on the 30th of January, 1768, these ministers thus express themselves: “The council is not ignorant of the intrigues employed by the nuncios with the Inquisition, to gain their ends by clandestine means. During the first fifteen centuries there were no tribunals of the Inquisition in Spain. The bishops alone were acquainted with points of doctrine, and heretics and blasphemers were punished by civil law. The abuse of the prohibitions of books commanded by the Inquisition, is one cause of the ignorance which prevails over the greatest part of this nation…. According to the bulls which created the holy office, the bishops are joint judges with the inquisitors, and sometimes the principal judges in the affairs which depend on the tribunal. This power of the bishops was acquired by their rank and their respectable office of pastors. Why then have these natural judges of all discussions which may arise on matters of faith and the morals of the faithful, no part or influence in the prohibitions of books, and the choice of qualifiers? It is from this circumstance that the subject has been treated with a negligence which excites and perpetuates the complaints of learned men…. Supposing that the regulations of Benedict XIV. were not sufficiently clear, the same cannot be said of the brief of Innocent VIII., which commands the Inquisition to follow the rules of justice in their proceedings: Can there be anything more just, than that the parties should be heard? Is it not contrary to the public interest, that books which might be useful in instructing subjects should be prohibited, from passion, or to gain some particular end? The fiscal would say too much if he dwelt upon this subject, to prove how much the tribunal has always abused its authority, in commanding the prohibition of doctrines which even Rome has not dared to condemn, such as the four propositions of the clergy of France, in supporting the indirect power of the Court of Rome against that of kings; and lastly, in sanctioning opinions equally reprehensible. It might be proved that the tribunal has constantly favoured and encouraged the wickedness committed by certain ecclesiastics who remain unmolested, contrary to the respect due to the king and his magistrates. The regular priests of the Society of Jesus have had the greatest influence in the holy office, since the minority of Charles II., when the Jesuit Juan Everard Nitardo, confessor to the queen-mother, was inquisitor-general…. The last general expurgatory index, published in 1747, is still remembered. Casani and Carrasco (both Jesuits) so falsified and confused it, that it was a disgrace to the tribunal: the fact is so well known, and had such important consequences, that that circumstance alone furnished sufficient motives to suppress the Inquisition entirely, or at least to reform it, since it only uses its authority to injure the state, and the purity of morals and the Christian religion…. It may be said that the expurgatory index drawn up in Spain is more injurious to the rights of the sovereign and the instruction of his subjects, than that of Rome. In that court the qualifiers are well chosen, the prohibitions moderate, and the interests of individuals are never considered…. We cannot forbear to mention the memoir presented by Monsignor Bossuet to Louis XIV., against the inquisitor-general Rocaberti, on the subject of a decree of the Inquisition of Toledo, in which the doctrine, refusing to the Pope the direct, or indirect power of depriving sovereigns of their kingdoms, is declared to be erroneous and schismatic…. The procurators cannot conceal from themselves that the tribunals of the Inquisition compose the most fanatical body in the state, and the most attached to the Jesuits, who have been banished from the kingdom; that the inquisitors profess the same doctrines and the same maxims; lastly, that it is necessary to accomplish a reform in the Inquisition.”

In their conclusion, the procurators proposed, that in consideration of the edict of 1762, and to ensure its execution, the holy office should be compelled to hear the defence of the authors of the works before they are prohibited, according to the provision of the bull Sollicita et Provida, of Benedict XIV.; that the tribunal should only condemn those books which contain errors in doctrine, superstition, or relaxed moral opinions; that it should particularly avoid prohibiting works written in the defence of the prerogatives of the crown; that it should not be allowed to seize or retain any unprohibited book, on pretence of correcting or qualifying it, but should leave it to the proprietor; that it should be obliged to present to the king the minutes of the decrees of prohibition before publication, and to the Council of Castile all the briefs sent to it, in order that they may be submitted to his majesty for his approbation.

The Council of Castile, with the extraordinary Council of Archbishops and Bishops, approved of the opinion of the king’s procurators. They presented it to Charles III., who wished to know the opinion of Don Manuel de Roda, Marquis de Roda, minister of justice. This nobleman (one of the most distinguished scholars in Spain, during the last century) remitted his opinion to his majesty on the 16th of March in the same year: it entirely accorded with those of the fiscals; he added, “on the 5th of September, 1761, the King of Naples, being informed of what was passing at Rome concerning the condemnation of Mazengui’s work, commanded that the Inquisition of Sicily and the ecclesiastical superiors throughout his states should not print or publish, in any way whatever, any kind of proclamation without permission from his majesty…. I was then at Rome, and I demanded in your majesty’s name some reparation from his Holiness, for the offence committed by his nuncio at Madrid, in inducing the inquisitor-general to publish the brief, for the prohibition of Mazengui’s work, without his knowledge…. His Holiness approved of the nuncio’s proceedings; but was convinced of the justice of our complaint, when I supported it by facts and arguments. The Pope, however, did not dare to express his opinion openly, as he was entirely governed by Cardinal Torregiani, who had managed all the intrigues under the influence of the Jesuits…. Torregiani knew that the brief would not be received in any court either in Italy, France, or even at Venice. The Pope wrote to that Republic to prevent the work from being reprinted; but it was, nevertheless, published not only then against the Pope’s command, but afterwards with a dedicatory epistle to his Holiness…. I have seen, in the library of the Vatican, a printed proclamation of the Inquisition of Spain in 1693: this tribunal condemns two authors, called the Barclayos, because their books contained two propositions which the Romans consider heretical: one was, that “the Pope has no authority over the temporalities of kings, and can neither depose them, nor release their subjects from their oath of fidelity; the other, that the authority of the general council is greater than that of the Pope.”

The same minister, in 1776, wrote a letter from Aranjuez to Don Philip Bertran, inquisitor-general. Speaking with approbation of his intention to correct the Spanish expurgatory index, he says, “A thousand absurdities were committed in the last expurgatory (confided in 1747 by the Bishop of Teruel to two Jesuits), and it is necessary to correct them; the fact is proved by the denunciations and printed notes of Fray Martin Llobet. But the appendix, or catalogue of authors called Jansenists, is the most intolerable; the names are all taken from the Bibliothèque Janseniste of Father Colonia, a Jesuit, which was condemned by a brief of Benedict XIV. Instead of placing this work in the Index, as it ought to have been, the names are copied from it. You know the brief addressed by that Pope to the Bishop of Teruel, on the 31st of July, 1748, and in which he disapproves of the insertion of the works of Cardinal Noris in the Index. His Holiness also addressed five letters to Ferdinand VI. on the same subject, but neither the Popes nor the king could get the name of Noris erased from the Index for ten years: at that time the Bishop of Teruel (who had at last consented) died, and, the king dismissed his confessor, the Jesuit Rabago, who had been the most averse to the measure. I took the necessary steps, and the king’s order was sent to Monsignor Quintano, inquisitor-general, and his majesty’s confessor, with whom I had a long conference on this subject: I at last obtained a decree, declaring that the works of Noris had neither been condemned, censured, nor denounced to the holy office.