The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand Part 22

_Inquisition of Logrono._

The Inquisition of Logrono was not less active in prosecuting heretics.

An _auto-da-fe_ was celebrated every year, composed of about twenty persons condemned for Judaism, and some others for different heresies, particularly Lutheranism; for after the time of Don Carlos de Seso, corregidor of Toro (who was arrested at Logrono, in 1558, and burnt in the following year at Valladolid), there were always some individuals to be found who professed his opinions, and succeeded in obtaining Lutheran books. The council which was informed of this circ.u.mstance, wrote to the inquisitors in 1568, enjoining them to redouble their vigilance in preventing the introduction of heretical books, and informed them, that Don Diego de Guzman, amba.s.sador to England, had written that the Protestants of that country boasted that their doctrine was well received in Spain, particularly in Navarre, and that it was even preached there.

While the inquisitors of Logrono were preparing for the _auto-da-fe_ of 1570, they had the mortification of being blamed for their conduct in two instances by the Supreme Council. One was in the case of Lope de Arguinaraz, and the other in that of Juan Floristan Maestuz, who were accused of Judaism. Arguinaraz denied the fact, was tortured, and then confessed having committed the actions, but a.s.serted that he did not do them with the sentiments and belief that he was accused of. He ratified his confession some days after, and demanded reconciliation. The judges when they a.s.sembled to vote for the definitive sentence, resolved to refer the case to the Supreme Council, which p.r.o.nounced that they had not sufficiently examined the accused on the sentiments and intentions which he entertained in committing the actions he had confessed, and commanded them to return to that stage of the trial, and vote according to the result. The inquisitors sent an account of the motives of their conduct, and gave notice that they should wait until the council had considered their observations, before they proceeded further. The reply to this message enjoined the inquisitors to execute the orders they had received immediately, and harshly reproached them for not having obeyed them in silence, and for having failed in their duty, in the interrogation, when they ought to have examined the accused on his doctrine.

In the other affair of Juan Floristan Maestuz, the council expressed its surprise, that the inquisitors did not examine the accused on some heretical propositions which were proved against him, though he refused to confess even during the torture; and above all, that the inquisitor, who had qualified the accused as _negatively_ perjured, had voted for his reconciliation, since the const.i.tutions of the holy office prohibited the reconciliation of those who persisted denying the charges proved against him. The reconciliation of the two prisoners took place in the _auto-da-fe_.

An _auto-da-fe_ took place at Logrono, on the 14th of November, 1593, where forty-nine persons appeared; five were burnt in person, seven in effigy; the others were subjected to penances.

The custom of celebrating one _general auto-da-fe_ every year was so well established, that when the inquisitors of Cuenca, in 1558, gave up a man to secular justice in a _particular auto-da-fe_, it was doubted if the rules of the holy office permitted it; and though the council decided in the affirmative, the custom of reserving all the condemned persons for the general _auto-da-fe_ prevailed, unless any very particular circ.u.mstance made it necessary to deviate from it.

_Inquisition of Sardinia._

I have already stated, that Philip II. introduced the Spanish const.i.tution into Sardinia, in 1562. Don Diego Calvo first began to put it into execution, but the novelty made so great an impression on the inhabitants, that they demanded that the tribunal should be visited.

This commission was confided by the inquisitor-general to the licentiate, Martinez del Villar, who fulfilled it in 1567. He received so many complaints against the inquisitor Calvo, that he was recalled, and Martinez took his place; he, however, did not remain there long, but was succeeded by Don Alphonso de Lorca.

In 1575, an appeal was made to Rome against the tribunal of Sardinia, and Philip II. interposed in its defence. Don Francis Minuta, a Sardinian gentleman, had been subjected to a penance for bigamy, and condemned to serve for three years as a common soldier in the galleys of Spain, and without the liberty of going out of the Goletta, in Malta.

He had not been there a month, before he contrived to escape, and returned to Sardinia; the inquisitor-general then ordered him to be again arrested, and doubled his punishment; Minuta was taken back to the Goletta, whence he escaped a second time, and fled to Rome. He represented to the Pope that he was not guilty of bigamy, and that the manner in which the inquisitor-general had treated him was unjust, since he had left the fort with the permission of the governor. Don Francis demanded, and obtained of the Pope, two briefs of commission: the first for the examination of the princ.i.p.al question, that of bigamy; the other to judge of the reasons which he advanced against the sentence, which prolonged his detention. In the interim, the inquisitor of Sardinia declared him a contumacious fugitive, and condemned him to eight years'

labour in the galleys. The apostolical judge required the inquisitor to suspend the proceedings; he informed the inquisitor-general, who applied to the king, whose interference they had never requested in vain. Philip II. wrote to Don Juan de Zuniga, his amba.s.sador at Rome, to demand a revocation of the briefs of commission, and to obtain permission for the inquisitor of the island to continue the prosecution, or that it might at least be referred to the inquisitor-general, to whom the right of judging the cause belonged. The Pope revoked his bulls to please the King of Spain, and the unfortunate Don Francis Minuta experienced the fate which he might have expected; for, in cases of this nature, the inquisitor-general always delegates one of the members of the accused tribunal to be the examining judge, on pretence that they are in possession of the writings of the trial.

Don Andrea Minuta, brother to Don Francis, was also condemned to the same punishment for three years. He fled to Rome, and appealing to the Pope, obtained a brief of commission for a bishop of Sardinia. Philip II. made the same request to the Pope, and Andrea was treated in the same way as his brother.

Don Pedro Guisa, Baron de Casteli, in Sardinia, was prosecuted and condemned for the same crime of bigamy; but having learnt what had happened to the two brothers Minuta, he had recourse to entreaties and humiliations, to appease the inquisitor-general and obtain a commutation of his punishment.

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 pa.s.sed by scholastic theologians. The work of _Filangieri_, ent.i.tled _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 circ.u.mstances 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, ent.i.tled _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 t.i.tle: _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 inst.i.tuted 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 a.s.sistance 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 G.o.d, 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 Logrono, 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_.

_Berrocosa_ (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 a.s.sembled 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 princ.i.p.ally in a book in octavo, ent.i.tled, _Escolias a las quatro Sylvas escritas en verso heroico por Angelo Policiano, int.i.tuladas 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.